Uncanny
by shana852963
Summary: The wizarding world adjusts to its newly appointed leaded while Alexandra must battle her own personal conflict. Meanwhile, Harry and the reinstated Order of the Pheonix continue to work to try to bring down Claridina once and for all. Sequel to Oddity
1. Chapter 1

The streets of Diagon Alley were completely deserted. No shoppers came there anymore; all of the livelihood had been sucked out of the shopping center and had been replaced by a dark aura. Diagon Alley, along with nearly every other major wizarding spot in Europe, was now under the control of Claridina Wretermoust.

Claridina walked the streets of Diagon Alley, paying no mind to the scattered remains of shops or the lifeless bodies of her own followers that had died fighting for her power. She stopped in front of what was once one of the largest Apothecaries in existence, and one of the only shops left standing and pushed open the door.

"My Lady," two of her followers said instantly, bowing their heads. Claridina did not respond and moved past them to the back of the shop.

"Evening, My Lady," said one of her more trusted followers, Maxwell Eppilep.

"Where's Carrison?" she asked, sitting down in front of a small coffee table that had a bubbling cauldron on top of it.

"He should be arriving any minute," Eppilep replied smoothly.

Sure enough, a moment later they heard the store door open and in walked a tall, burley man. "I'm sorry I'm late," he said, bowing as he spotted Claridina. "Potter's been keeping the Aurors late."

"I would expect nothing less from him," Claridina nodded. "What do you have for me today?"

"Nothing much," Carrison replied. "Same drill; rotating shifts patrolling, searches for you and your other followers. Right now they think you're hiding somewhere in Italy."

"Ah, if only I had the time," Claridina said, conjuring up a glass of wine and taking a sip of it. "And I suspect they still have no idea about your true identity?"

"None, My Lady," he said. "For all they know I'm an Auror living alone on the outskirts of Dover."

"And the others? No alarms have been raised for them either?"

"None," Carrison said. "The Ministry still has no idea there are any spies among them."

"I doubt their ignorance will go on for much longer, but we'll use it while we can," Claridina said. "What we must do now is work on creating _my_ ministry. If I continue to let those fools go on with that pathetic underground nonsense, they might begin to think too highly of themselves."

"The sooner the better," Eppilep nodded. "But I must say, a ministry ruled by the woman who is painted as a monster will not be taken too kindly by the masses."

"And you believe I give a damn about the masses?"

"Of course not," Eppilep said calmly. "They're impressionable delusionals. However, you image has been so smeared by Potter and the Ministry that they don't know how to do anything _but_ hate you."

"But what's wrong with that?" Carrison asked. "That just means she's been doing her job."

"No," Claridina spoke. "He's right. As dimwitted as the masses may be, they are essential to any reign. They're unpredictable, and if they continue to be molded by the enemies, we could have problems on our hands. Revolts, riots…no doubt I could easily stop them, but would it not be so much better for them to be with me?"

"Precisely, My Lady," Eppilep nodded.

"How is she going to make them like her?" Carrison frowned. "She destroyed everything!"

"We make them think," Claridina said, finishing off her glass of wine. "That I'm not the true enemy. We turn them against Potter."

"Potter's their hero, though," Carrison pointed out. "He has been for the last thirty years. Ever since he was a baby."

Claridina stood up and went to one of the desks that was standing by the staircase. She opened up a drawer and pulled out old newspaper articles. She handed them to Carrison. "Read those for me, Carrison."

"Undesirable Number One," Carrison read.

"And whose picture do you see under there?"

"Potter's."

"Good, good. Now read the next one."

"Boy Who Lies."

"And to whom could they possibly be referring to there?"

"P-Potter?"

"Excellent," Claridina said. "You see, Carrison, those articles were printed during Potter's teen years. He still had his hero rep., but it was so easily tarnished and Potter soon became less popular than rat dung."

"She controls the _Prophet_," Eppilep stated. "Print something convincing enough and it will believed."

"Gather the others," Claridina said to Carrison. "I want Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade reconstructed overnight. Repair the two schools we took over too, and the old Ministry office. Tonight, my reign truly starts, but I'm no longer going to be the enemy. No, that's going to be Potter's new job."

Carrison nodded and hurried out of the shop.

"My Lady," Eppilep said. "Forgive me for asking, but how are things with the girl?"

"I've been giving her space," Claridina said. "She still feels much anger towards me and I feel it is wise to let her cool down before I approach her again."

"Our we sure time is not our enemy in this case?"

Claridina laughed cruelly. "Maxwell, time is anything _but _our enemy in this case. It's not as if she can change her mind about helping us."

She turned to head out of the shop. "After all," she called back to Eppilep. "Her life depends on her following though with it."


	2. Chapter 2

Alexandra sat quietly by the window of the small home her and her father had been staying in for the past week, ever since their old house had been destroyed during Claridina Wretermoust's attacks. All she had been doing lately was sitting around. She just couldn't bring herself to do anything else, for every waking minute she had one thought go through her head, and one thought alone: The Unbreakable Vow, the contract that her mother had tricked her into joining just a short while ago the made her swear to help her kill Harry Potter. There was no way out of it, and she couldn't even ask anybody for help or advice. She was truly left alone to sink.

How could she kill Harry? Or even help her mother do the deed? She couldn't, but she had to. Or else she herself would die. It was a lose-lose situation, and Claridina knew it, and that's why Alexandra felt so helpless.

"Alexandra?"

Alexandra looked up to see her father standing over her. She hadn't seen much of him lately. He never seemed to leave the pile of blankets he was using as a bed. Alexandra had of course wondered why this was, but, well, her own problems seemed to have taken priority in her mind.

"Yeah?" she said softly.

"We need to talk."

Alexandra nodded. "Okay."

"It's about your mother."

Her blood froze. Her mother? Dudley didn't know about Claridina. Nobody did, except for the woman herself and her son. So what could this be about?

"What-What about her?" she asked in a small voice.

Dudley sat down next to her and sighed. "I've found out some news recently. It's taken me sometime to come to terms with it, which is why I haven't told you before now. But you do have to know. Do you know that witch that was responsible for everything that happened last week? The one-the one Harry's been fighting?"

_Oh, no_ Alexandra thought as she carefully nodded her head.

"It turns out," Dudley said gravely. "That-that she's the same woman I married years and years ago. She pretended to be a muggle and-and she tricked me, sweetheart. She-your mother, that is, she's really the same woman who did all of those terrible things."

Alexandra couldn't believe what she was hearing. How had he found out? How? Claridina didn't contact him, did she?  
She tried to pull on a shocked expression for her father, which wasn't too hard, seeing as she never planned on him finding out this information.

"I know this is a lot for you to take in," Dudley told her, putting a comforting arm around his daughter's shoulder. "But-"

"How-how did you find out?" Alexandra couldn't restrain herself from asking.

"Harry came over the day I went back to our old house," Dudley explained. "He saw a picture that I saved of her. He told me who she really was."

Harry knew? No, No! this couldn't be happening. "He-He knows she's my mum?" Alexandra asked shakily.

"Yes," Dudley said gently.

Alexandra felt her body go numb. This could not be happening.

…

"We're really doing this, huh?" Ron asked as him and Harry walked into Number 12 Grimauld Place. "At least there's now dust-corpse attacking us this time."

Harry walked into the kitchen of his late godfather's home. "Look," he said to Ron. "I think that's onion soup. Kreacher must've left if there for us expecting us to come back after we went to the Ministry looking for the locket."

"Twenty-year old soup?" Ron cringed.

"Think it will be a good meeting spot for the Order again, though," Harry said. "It's well hidden and big."

"How bad do you think the infiltration is at the Ministry?" Ron asked.

"Kingsley seems to think it's pretty bad," Harry said. "And I'm starting to agree with him."

"Hopefully our fake trail that Claridina's in Italy will hold whoever her spies are off," Ron said. "I'd say the longer she thinks we don't have a clue what she's up to, the better."

"Right," Harry nodded.

"Who's going to be in the Order?" Ron asked. "Most of the old members are dead."

"We'll keep it small for right now," Harry said. "I suspect as Claridina gets more power it will be easier to see who will be dedicated to taking her down."

"Dumbledore started the Order," Ron said, looking around some more. "It's going to be weird not having him in it."

"He would've wanted it to keep going on," Harry said. "To reform whenever it needed to; even without him. Where's Hermione? I thought she was meeting us here."

Just then they head the large entrance doors open. "Ron? Harry?"

"In here!" Ron called back.

"It's just as dusty in here as I remember," Hermione commented, joining the men in the kitchen. "How long have you been here?"

"Just a few minutes," Harry replied. "Where have you been?"

"Doing some research," Hermione said, placing the bag she had been carrying over her shoulder onto the table. "I wanted to find out who this Mildred Green was."

"She's not real," Harry frowned. "Claridina just made her up to fool Dudley."

She shook her head. "In this day and age, it's nearly impossible to live without any sort of record to your name. She would need a birth certificate, licenses, and all sorts of stuff. It would be far easier to just steal someone's identity then to create a new one."

"So then what happened to Mildred?" Harry asked. "Nothing good, I'm guessing."

"No," Hermione sighed.

"How'd you manage to find anything about her?" Ron asked. "If she's a muggle there wouldn't be a record of her anywhere in our files. Did you go down to the muggle ministry?"

"Didn't have time," Hermione said, unzipping her bag. "So I decided to do it the short way." She pulled a laptop computer out of the bag and opened it up.

"They have foldable computers?" Ron exclaimed.

"It's a laptop," Harry told him.

"I just ran her name though this search engine," Hermione said, bringing up a web page.

"What did you find?" Harry asked, sitting down next to her.

"Well, it took me awhile to find the right Mildred Green," Hermione explained. "But once I did, I found out that she was born in 1975 in Bristol. Her parents died when she was two, though Claridina couldn't have had anything to do with that, seeing as she wasn't born. She grew up in a small orphanage. There's only a record of her holding one job; she worked as a hotel maid somewhere close to her new home."

"That's it?" Harry frowned.

"She didn't stick out much, I'm afraid," Hermione said. "She lived alone, didn't have any friends or family. In 1997 her boss phoned the police saying that she had not shown up for work for the past month, though there never was any investigation, seeing as nobody pushed for one."

"That was when we were seventeen," Ron said. "When we were looking for Horcruxes."

"Malfoy did say that Claridina was living at the Malfoy Manor then," Harry said. "She could've easily slipped out and killed her."

"I thought of that," Hermione nodded. "And look at this. I looked up the address that was listed for Mildred and it showed me this map. Look at it!"

"What about it?" Harry asked, looking at the map that popped up onto the screen.

"You see that big empty space in that field about a mile to the right of the house?" Hermione asked. "Doesn't the scenery seem familiar?"

"That's near the Malfoy's place!" Ron said. "They were almost right next to each other."

"Yes," Hermione nodded. "The manor itself doesn't show up on the map, of course, but I'm pretty sure that's where it was."

"Mildred must've been Claridina's first victim then," Harry said.

"Yes," Hermione sighed.

"And you found this all out from this lap thing?" Ron asked, picking up the computer. "Let me get this straight; you just spell out anything you want using those buttons with the letters and this thing just gives you the answers?"

"It's a bit more complex than that, but essentially, yes," Hermione nodded.

"Bloody hell," Ron said. "That sounds about ten times easier than the library. Do you know how much time one of these gadgets would've saved us if he we had one in Hogwarts?"

"Harry?" Hermione said as Ron continued to examine the laptop. "Have you talked to Alexandra yet?"

"I told Dudley to call me when he thought it was best for me to," Harry nodded. "It's been a week, though."

"They both need time, Harry," Hermione said.

"I know," Harry nodded. "But I don't know how much time we have."


	3. Chapter 3

"Move out of the way, would you?" Louis hissed at James.

"You move," James snapped.

"Be quiet, both of you," Rose said. "I can't hear what they're saying!"

"They've been in there for almost an hour," Lily whispered. "Do you think something's wrong?"

"You mean something more?" Hugo frowned.

"Where are those Extendable Ears your dad has?" Albus asked Fred. "Those might help."

"He hid them on me," Fred replied. "For this reason, I think."

The children were at The Burrow, and for the past hour, their parents and grandparents had been gathered in George's old room discussing something that the youngsters were 'not allowed to be included in'.

"Think Teddy will tell us anything?" Louis asked.

"Not if dad told him not to," Albus sighed.

"You guys!" Rose whispered. "I think I just heard someone in there say Alexandra's name!"

"You sure?" Fred frowned. "Why would they be talking about her?"

"I dunno," Rose shrugged.

"What are you lot doing?"

The seven turned around to see Victoire standing behind them.  
"Er, just looking for…something," James lied lamely.

Victoire raised an eyebrow.

"Oh, okay," Louis said to his sister. "We've been trying to find out what in the bloody hell is going on in there! You want to listen in with us?"

"I don't have to," Victoire said simply. She turned the doorknob. "One of the perks of being of age." And with that she entered the room.

….

"Reinstating the Order?" Charlie frowned.

"It's the only way we can make any real progress stopping Claridina," Harry said.

"She has spies all over the underground Ministry," Ron said. "And the second she finds out that we know about them…well, we really can't say what she'll do."

"I think it's a brilliant idea," George said. "Show her that we won't let her win without a fight."

"I'm not saying it's a bad idea," Charlie said. "But would it work?"

"We won't know until we try it out, will we?" Ginny pointed out.

"I can try and contact as many of the old members as I can," Arthur said.

"It shouldn't be that hard to find new members who are against her," Bill said. "She's the most feared woman in Europe."

"I think she's trying to change that," Hermione spoke up.

"What do you mean?" Percy asked.

Hermione pulled out a newspaper page from her pocket. "I don't know if any of you lot saw the _Prophet_ this morning…"

Harry looked at the page.

_**Potter's Path for Power**_

_Boy-Who-Lived. The Chosen One. Over the years, Mr. Harry Potter certainly has earned himself plenty of titles. After he earned the rank of Auror, though, it seemed that only one title eluded Potter; Minister of Magic. Yes, it seemed that the wizarding world's former hero wanted as much power as he could muster under his thumb. He wanted to become Minister of Magic and have complete control over the entire English wizarding community. But Potter being Potter, he couldn't stand to win the title in the traditional way. Potter had been planning a mass takeover for years, one that would cripple the entire community. He planned to have the Ministry, the schools, Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade, as well as major wizarding areas of other countries, destroyed. Potter would then 'rise from the ashes' and offer false comfort to all and declaring himself the new Minister of Magic. Only one person found out about this plan, and Potter went to great lengths to stop her. Ms. Claridina Wretermoust discovered Potter's true intentions and when she tried to stop his tyrannical plans, Potter began to smear her name, making her seem like the villain, focusing all of the hate on her while he quietly went about his ways. He pinned the recent catastrophes that swept Europe on her as well, creating the allusion that he was trying to stop her, when in reality it was the other way around. _

"_I realize that this is a big shock to all," Wretermoust said. "And of course people will be skeptical to believe it. I, however, will no let them live in Potter's delusions any longer. I've single-handedly begun repairs on Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade, and the Ministry of Magic offices. These offices, however, will no longer be filled with Potter's minions. I have my own loyal supporters who have also seen the light and have worked to make sure that Potter does not gain absolute rule." _

"You have got to be kidding me," Ginny said. "Who would believe this rubbish?"

"You'd be surprised," Bill sighed.

"We were wondering when she'd begin launching her Ministry," Harry said. "Well, looks like this is the beginning."

"We need to get the Order on the way, now," Ron said. "If enough people believe this nonsense, then she'll have total control."

"We'll need the old members at Sirius's place as soon as possible," Harry said to Arthur. "And as for you lot…I understand if you don't want to rejoin-"

"Of course we do," George said.

"We've got to do something to stop this woman," Molly nodded.

"I want to join," Teddy said.

Harry turned to his godson. "I knew you would."

"Harry, please," Teddy started. "I've been training with the Aurors-"

"Okay."

"O-Okay?" Teddy blinked. "You'll let me join?"

"You're a good Auror, Teddy," Harry said. "And after the way you protected everyone when Claridina's followers were attacking…you'll be a fine addition."

Teddy beamed. "Thanks, Harry."

Suddenly, the door opened, and Harry was sure it was going to be James, begging to know what had been going on for the past hour, but instead Victoire walked in.

"Victoire, what are you-"

"I know you're reinstating the Order of the Phoenix," she said simply. "I want to join."

"How-how did you know about that?" Bill asked softly.

Harry glanced at Teddy, who was now avoiding his eye.

"I'm not an idiot," Victoire said. "I know that it was around when Voldemort was in power. Of course you would be starting it up now."

"You cannot join," Fleur said firmly, stepping next to her husband.

"Absolutely not," Bill nodded in agreement.

"I'm of age," Victoire said calmly. "I've graduated from Hogwarts."

"You were going to go to school to become a Healer," Bill said softly.

"There will be time for that later," she replied. "Right now, I think I'm more needed here."

"You can get hurt!" her mother exclaimed. "Or worse!"

"I know that," Victoire nodded. She turned to Harry. "I want to join."

"It's not his call," Bill said quickly before Harry could say that exact same thing. "It's mine and your mother's."

"I'm of age," she repeated. "What I do…it's my decision now."

"'Arry, tell her she cannot join!" Fleur said.

"You're right out of school, Victoire," Harry said. "I-You-it's got to be something that your parents discuss."

"That's right," Fleur said. "And we-"

"Fleur, she's right," Bill said slowly. "She's of age. She-she can make these decisions now."

"But she-"

"You know she'll find a way to fight," he told his wife. "One way or another. I'd rather have it be by my side, wouldn't you?"

"Of course! But-but-"

"I'll be careful, mum," Victoire said gently. "I promise."

Fleur had tears in her eyes. She gripped Bill's shoulder as she finally nodded.

"The kids are probably wondering what's going on," Molly said after a minute of silence. "Come on. We should go see what they're up to."

The others nodded in agreement and began to file out of the room. Before he left, though, Bill pulled Harry aside.

"She doesn't fight," he said firmly. "Not for awhile. Find-find another job for her."

"Teddy tells me she's good with potions," Harry said. "And Claridina's very fond of using potions against us. She'll be good to help us try and use them to our advantage."

Bill nodded and then turned to leave the room with out a word.


	4. Chapter 4

Alexandra hated this little house. She had no privacy, seeing as her and her father had to share the one tiny bedroom, and she couldn't even leave the house unless escorted by an Auror. And right now, with everything that had happened to her recently, Alexandra really needed a place where she could be by herself and go over her thoughts. The best she could do was lock herself in the bathroom and curl up in the small corner of the bathtub.

Harry knew. She still could hardly accept that fact. Harry knew she was Claridina's daughter. In a way, that was even worse than her father finding out. She knew her father thought that news was just as surprising to her as it was to him. But Harry…she knew Harry would be wiser. If Dudley had told him that she had seen her mother last summer (and she assumed that he would've after Harry had told him about Claridina), then he would know that she knew far before any of this had happened. What would he think of her for keeping such a secret? Would he believe that she was working with Claridina all that time?

And then anytime she thought of Claridina, her mind would always go back to the Vow.

_Maybe she was just tricking me with that too_, Alexandra thought suddenly. _Maybe there really is no such thing as an Unbreakable Vow! Maybe she was just trying to scare me into helping her! If I just don't do anything…maybe nothing will happen!_

Yes, she decided firmly. That's just what she was going to do. If she ignored this, maybe it would go away.

"Alexandra?" he father called through the door, knocking. "Are you in there?"

"Yes!" Alexandra called back.

"Hurry up," Dudley told her. "We're going to go out."

Out? They hadn't gone out since they moved into the house.

"Where are we going?" Alexandra asked, opening the door.

"Harry's house," Dudley said. "He wants to talk with you."

…..

"Well, it's not exactly how it was," Ginny said, looking around the house. "But I think we all did a pretty good job."

"What about all of my stuff?" James asked. "Did it all get destroyed too?"

"We put what we could find in your room," Harry said.

"At least we're out of mum and dad's," Ginny said as the kids ran upstairs to see their rooms. "I love them; but I just missed it here."

Harry looked around the newly repaired house. "At least we could use magic to fix this place. They have to call in muggle construction workers to fix Dudley's home."

"Well, he wouldn't have been able to stay there anyway," Ginny pointed out. "He would've been moved to protection with Alexandra even if his house was still in one piece."

Suddenly, the phone rang.

"Hello?" Harry answered.

"Um, hi, Harry. It's Dudley."

"Oh, um, how are you? Is the house holding up?"

"Yeah, it's fine," Dudley replied. "Listen, you-you said to call you when-when you were able to talk to Alexandra. I, er, I think she's ready now."

"Are you sure?" Harry asked.

"Yes," Dudley sighed. "She's been a bit quiet since I've told her, which I expected, but I think it's sunk in. I-Do you want me to bring her by?"

"Yes," Harry said at once. "I'll have somebody apperate with the two of you."

"Okay. I guess…I guess I'll see you then."

"Who was that?" Ginny asked when Harry hung up the phone.

"Dudley," he answered. "Him and Alexandra are going to come by."

"Are you going to talk to her?" Ginny asked.

Harry nodded.

"Do you know what you're going to say? You have to be gentle, Harry. She's got to be so confused, and she'll have so many questions."

"Believe me," Harry said. "I know the feeling."

…..

"Why'd you want to meet here?" Victoire asked, sitting down on one of the rocks near the ocean.

"I've always liked this spot," Teddy muttered.

The two were sitting on the beach near Victoire's house.

"Why do you want to join the Order?" he blurted out.

"What do you mean?" Victoire frowned. "For the same reason you do. You're the one who told me Uncle Harry and the others were reforming it."

"I didn't think you would go and demand to be a part of it!" Teddy exclaimed. "What were you thinking, Vic?"

"That I could help fight against Claridina and make just as much a difference as you," she snapped. "What's wrong with you? Why are you shouting?"

"Because!" Teddy said loudly. "You've barely just graduated from school! You're only eighteen!"

"I'm barely two years younger than you," Victoire pointed out. "Why is it okay for you to join and not me?"

"I've trained with the Aurors for a year!" Teddy yelled. "I at least stand a chance against Claridina and her followers! You-You're going to get yourself killed, Vic!"

"You don't think I know what could happen?" she yelled back. "I know I can get killed! But so can you!"

"Victoire, you-you can't join," Teddy said firmly.

"And who are you to tell me that?" she asked, crossing her arms.

"Vic, you-you know how I feel about you," he said softly. "If anything happened to you…I don't know what I'd do. That's why you can't join."

"You don't get to tell me what I can and cannot do," Victoire said.

"You're-"

"I'm joining," Victoire cut him off. "And there's nothing you can do to stop me."

And before Teddy could open his mouth, she apperated from the beach, leaving him alone.


	5. Chapter 5

Harry paced back and forth in his office. Alexandra and Dudley would be arriving any minute now. He wanted to talk to Alexandra alone and he hoped Dudley wouldn't stop that from happening; he felt the girl would open up to him easier if her father wasn't in the room.

"Harry," Ginny said softly, walking into the office. "Dudley and Alexandra just arrived with one of your Aurors."

Harry nodded. "Thanks."

"Are you going to talk with her in here?"

"Yes," Harry replied. "I don't want the kids to overhear us. Last thing I need is for them to find out about this; especially James."

"Well they're out back playing Quidditch," Ginny said. "I doubt we'll hear a peep from them for at least an hour."

"Good, good," Harry said. "Listen, Gin? While I talk to Alexandra do you think you could keep Dudley busy?"

"You don't want him to sit in with Alexandra?"

Harry shook his head. "Dudley believes Alexandra only just found out about Claridina. She won't want to say anything otherwise in front of him."

"Alright," Ginny nodded.

Harry and Ginny opened up their front door where Dudley and Alexandra were waiting with a young Auror.

"Thanks," Harry told him. "I'll bring them back myself when they're ready."

"It's nice to finally get out of the house," Dudley said as him and his daughter stepped through the door.

"You must be hungry," Ginny said. "Can I get you anything to drink or eat?"

"Some water would be fine," Dudley said.

"No thank you," Alexandra said softly.

"Alexandra," Harry said. "Why don't we go into my office?"

Alexandra nodded slowly. "Okay."

Dudley looked after her, as if he were about to follow the two of them into Harry's office, but Ginny began to lead him into the kitchen and he turned away.

….

Alexandra remembered the last time she had been in Harry's office, though he didn't know about that. It was last Christmas when she had been instructed by her mother to steal the gold necklace chain that would give away the secret identity she had used as the muggle Mildred Green. She wondered if Harry had ever suspected her.

"You can have a seat," Harry said, nodding over to his desk chair.

Alexandra sat down, bracing herself for what was coming next.

"I know your father has told you about the situation with your mother by now," Harry said, getting right to the point. "About how she's Claridina Wretermoust."

Slightly taken back by his directness, Alexandra nodded. "Y-Yes."

There was a silence.

"I imagine that would be more than a small shock, fining that out," Harry finally said. "It must've been hard for you to wrap your head around."

Alexandra did not reply.

Harry took a deep breath. "You knew, didn't you? Before your father told you. You knew for nearly a year."

He didn't sound mad or disappointed. In fact, if Alexandra didn't know any better, she would've thought he was discussing something as simple as the weather.

She sighed. Well, it was no use denying it. Slowly, she nodded her head.

"Right," Harry said. "You found out when you went to her home over last summer?"

Actually, it had been even earlier than that; at the end of her second year, but she found herself nodding again. "I-I'm sorry I didn't say anything," she said.

Harry leaned against the wall. "Why didn't you?"

Alexandra looked at him. He had such an understanding look on his face. "I was afraid," she said meekly.

"Of what other people would think of you because of who she is," Harry finished.

"Yeah," Alexandra said, looking down at her lap.

There was another silence before Harry said, "You know it doesn't matter. Just because you're her daughter, Alexandra, doesn't mean you're anything like her or ever will be."

Alexandra looked up. She had expected Harry to be at least a little skeptical about her; after all, Claridina was his biggest enemy and she was her flesh and blood.

"Blood only matters as much as you let it matter," Harry continued. "Claridina is a monster, but that doesn't mean you are."

"I'm not sure that's how people at Hogwarts would've seen it," she mumbled.

Harry nodded. "You're right. There would've been plenty of people who would've whispered at you when you walked down the corridors or would've been convinced you were just as evil as she is."

Alexandra thought back to her first year at Hogwarts when two of the girls she shared a dormitory with, Tiffany Finnigan and Grace Macmillan, who thought she was a horrible person because Dudley was her father and they heard about how terrible he had treated Harry growing up. She couldn't even imagine how they would react if they found out about her mother.

"Please don't let anybody at the school fine out," she pleaded.

"I promise I won't let that happen," Harry told her.

"Or-or my father," Alexandra said. "Please don't let him find out that I've known."

Harry nodded. "Okay. But I do need to ask you some questions."

"Alright."

"When you went to her house over the summer," Harry said. "Do you know where you went?"

She shook her head. "No. One of her followers was waiting for me after I got off the underground and he apperated me right to the house. I have no idea where we went."

"I figured she would've done that," Harry sighed. "What did she do while you were there?"

"I didn't see her much," Alexandra replied truthfully. "She was very busy with some plan…which I guess she already put in motion. I mostly just stayed in my room."

"Has she contacted you since?"

Alexandra thought about their last encounter in Hogwarts within the flames. "No," she found herself saying. "She hasn't."

Harry nodded.

"But her son kept trying to talk to me at school last year," Alexandra said quickly. "He was saying something about her plan as well, about how she needed my help, but I never listened to him. I always got away from him."

"And you're sure that she hasn't tried to get in contact with you since?"

"Yes," Alexandra said firmly.

"Okay," Harry sighed. "But Alexandra, if she does, I do need you to let me know. Send me and owl or have your father give me a ring."

"I will," Alexandra said.

She tried to keep the Vow from swimming to the surface of her mind. She told herself she wasn't going to even think about it, and she intended to do just that.

"You're father will be wondering what's taking so long," Harry said, walking towards the office door.

Alexandra stood up and followed Harry out of the office. She desperately hoped that she'd able to continued avoiding the vow she made to her mother. She did not think she could bear to see Harry, who had been so understanding to her even though she had lied for over a year, hurt.

…

"Well if she hasn't contacted her since the summer," Ron said. "Maybe she doesn't have any plan for her."

"But why would she have gone to the trouble of having her come to her hideout then?" Harry pointed out. "I highly doubt Claridina was suddenly overcome with a motherly desire to see daughter she left behind years ago. She had to have had a purpose."

"Well, Alexandra was saying that Claridina's son was trying to talk to her at Hogwarts," Hermione said. "Right?"

"Yeah, about the plan," Harry nodded. "He wanted Alexandra to help Claridina, but she refused."

"Well maybe that's what she wanted Alexandra to do," Hermione said. "Think about it, if she got Alexandra to fight for her during her attack, would you have killed her."

"No, of course not," Harry said at once.

"Well maybe that's what Claridina was banking on," she said. "But luckily she couldn't convince Alexandra to go onto her side."

"Maybe," Harry said thoughtfully. "But one thing's for sure. Claridina's not done with Alexandra."


	6. Chapter 6

"Mum, where's dad?" Albus asked, pouring syrup onto his waffles.

"He didn't get home until late last night," Ginny replied, sliding a plate of eggs in front of James. "I'd reckon he'll be having a bit of a lie in before going to work."

"Morning," Harry yawned, shuffling into the kitchen.

"You look awful," Ginny said, giving her husband a quick peck. "You must've only had four hours of sleep."

"I need to go into work," Harry said, taking a sip of his orange juice. "There's no time for rest."

"Dad, you told me you'd race with me to find the Snitch today," Lily said.

Harry frowned. He had completely forgotten about that. "I don't think I can today, Lil," he said.

"Oh," Lily said softly, looking down at her plate.

Harry could almost feel his heart crack. "Tomorrow for sure, though," he promised.

"Really?" Lily asked, perking up.

"Really," Harry smiled.

"Mail's here," James said as the family owl landed on the window ledge. He walked across the kitchen and opened the window. "Whoa. There's a lot for you, dad."

"Let me see that," Harry said, noticing the large stack of envelopes in James's hand.

"There are more owls coming," Ginny said, looking out the window.

She was right. In the next few seconds it seemed that at least a dozen owls had crammed themselves on the window ledge, each carrying many letters.

"What do they say?" James asked, looking over his father's shoulder as Harry opened one of the envelopes.

_Dear Harry Potter,_

_Words cannot express the anger I am feeling right now. For years I have supported you, telling myself that you were the poster-image of bravery and safety for the wizarding community. You cannot imagine the betrayal I felt when I discovered from the _Daily Prophet_ how wrong I was. You sir, are a tyrant. Endangering thousands of lives for your own agenda of becoming Minister of Magic; you make me sick. To think I would've gone on believing your lie about how Ms. Claridina Wretermoust was really the one behind all of the recent chaos. Why it's her who's been rebuilding the mess you've been creating! Perhaps you simply cannot let go of the fact that that ridiculous scar on your forehead has long since lost its meaning. _

"Dad! You're hands!" Albus exclaimed.

Harry felt a painful sensation on his fingers and looked down to see that they were swollen and covered in pus.

"It's undiluted Bubotuber Pus," Harry said, walking over to sink to run cold water over his fingers. "Don't touch it!" he added to Lily, who was just about to pick up the letter.

"How do you know?" Ginny asked.

"Hermione had the same thing happen to her after Rita Skeeter wrote some article about her back in Hogwarts," Harry said.

"This is absolute rubbish," Ginny said, picking up the letter with a napkin and scanning it. "They can't all be like this."

"I'd bet they are," Harry said, looking over at the envelopes.

"This one's for you, mum," James said, looking at one of the top envelopes.

"Don't open it," Harry said firmly. "It's probably just going to chew you out for marrying me."

"These people can't honestly think that you're the bad guy and Claridna's the victim," Ginny said.

"She's played her cards well, unfortunately," Harry sighed. "She rebuilt Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade-"

"-but they're both completely controlled by her!" Ginny exclaimed. "George can't even re-open his shop because she knows he's loyal to you!"

"She controls the _Prophet_, don't forget," Harry said gravely. "She's making it seem like she's only making sure that both those areas remain safe from me."

"This is crazy," Ginny said furiously. "How people just believe what she writes?"

"It's easier than believing the truth," Harry said. "That we're all in deep trouble."

….

"What happened to your hands?" Hermione asked as Harry walked into the office where her and Ron were sitting, spotting Harry's bandaged hands.

"Got some fan mail," Harry said dryly.

"Undiluted Bubotuber Pus, huh?" she said knowingly. "I remember that."

"We got some letters as well," Ron said. "Told us we're nutters if we keep standing by you."

"We chucked them all in the fire," Hermione told him.

"So did Ginny and I," Harry nodded. "Where's Kingsley, anyway?"

"He should be here any minute," Hermione said.

Sure enough, Kingsley hurried into the office a moment later. "Thank you all for coming in so early," he said. "I know you had late nights here yesterday."

"It's no problem," Harry said. "Are we ready to go over the list?"

Kingsley nodded as he pulled out a roll of parchment. "These are the Ministry workers who I am almost certain are working for Claridina. You read me the list of Aurors who you believe fit for the Order and I'll tell you if I have them here."

Harry took out a scrap of parchment from his jeans. "Okay. Andrew Balmer."

"I don't have him," Kingsley said. "And I agree. He's definitely loyal to our side."

"Bently Ballsinger, Horace Gablehouse, and Kent Rogers."

"All good so far," Kingsley nodded. "Go on."

"Timothy Henton."

"Him I have," Kingsley said. "I've been told by multiple sources that he was acting very peculiar the day that Claridina attacked."

Harry nodded. It hurt, to realize someone he had worked with for years could possibly be in allegiance with Claridina. However he put on straight face and crossed him off his list.

"Linda Follicer, Camreon Gordon and Niall Tomlinson."

"They're clear. Anybody else?"

"Gean Quagmire, Larance Williams and Lamano Carrison."

Kingsley paused for a moment. "Gean and Larance I believe to be fine," he said. "But Carrison…I was on the fence with him."

"You think he's a spy?" Harry frowned.

"I'm not as certain as I was with the others," he said. "You know him better than me. I'm going to let you make the call on him."

Harry thought. Carrison was great in combat; he really had a knack for fighting. Perhaps a knack to great lately. Carrison had seemed eager to kill, even when Harry had given him orders to stun only. He also seemed to be very nosey on Harry and Ron's tracking of Claridina. He turned to Ron. "What do you reckon?"

"Carrison definitely knows how to fight," Ron said. "We know Claridina would be interested in having that in a follower."

Carrison had been an Auror for nearly three years and had fought along Harry several times.

"I can't risk putting a spy into the Order," he finally said, sighing deeply. "I'd rather be safe than sorry. I'll take him off the list."

Kingsley nodded. "Hermione, you have names from the Department of Magical Law Enforcement? You have some very clever people up there."

"Yes," Hermione said. "But wouldn't it have been better to have Wendy draw this list up for you? She is head of the department."

"And on my list as well, I'm afraid," Kingsley said.

Hermione's eyes widened. "Oh."

She read Kingsley her own list of about twenty names, three of whom Kingsley identified as spies.

"Now that we have more potential members," Harry said. "I'd say it's time to call the first meeting."

"I agree," Kingsley nodded. "When?"

"Tonight," Harry replied. "At Grimmauld Place."

"Alright," Kingsley said, rising. "I will see you then."


	7. Chapter 7

"I'm not sure I understand why you're still staying in hiding, My Lady," Carrison said to Claridina. "You have control and _you_ have all the power. What's left of Potter's posse is basically useless compared to you."

"It's still too soon for that, I'm afraid," Claridina sighed, playing with the flames of one of the fireplaces in her hideout. "But all in good time."

"I overheard Potter saying that he got quite some feedback with the _Prophet _article," Carrison said. "It seemed to have drawn away a good amount of his popularity."

"A small victory, yes," Claridina said simply. "But it's not enough. Where has the search for me been extended to now?"

"Bulgaria," he answered promptly. "However…"

"Yes?" Claridina frowned.

"Potter didn't send that many Aurors into the country," Carrison said. "Only about a dozen, and he hasn't even been to the area himself."

Claridina looked into the flames. "I see."

"I don't know what it means," Carrison said quickly. "Do you think Potter or Kingsley have caught on to you? Do you think they know that there are spies in the Ministry?"

"They would've acted by now," Claridina said simply. "No…they don't know."

She stood. "You are dismissed, Carrison. Go."

Carrison bowed and hurried out of the room.

Claridina waited a moment before she stepped out as well, and headed down the corridor to the next room.

"Max," she said, opening the door.

Eppilep looked up from the book he was reading and instantly got to his feet. "My Lady, what can I do for you?"

"We will need to be moving forward with my Ministry sooner than we expected," she said. "I trust that you have prepped the others on their responsibilities?"

"Indeed, of course," Eppilep said, nodded. "But, if you do not mind me asking…why the sudden need to implement your Ministry? I was under the impression that you were going to wait at least another two weeks."

"Something…I cannot say what, exactly, but something is happening with the underground ministry," Claridina said. "They might be planning to take back the rule, and we cannot let that happen."

"Is that what Carrison says?"

"He told me of some questionable activity," Claridina replied. "It could very well be nothing, but you know I would never take the chance."

"No, you are very cautious," Eppilep nodded.

"Our Ministry will rise tomorrow," Claridina said firmly. "Make sure that the _Prophet _has your picture on the front page introducing you as the new Minister of Magic."

"Of course. I will have them write Kingsley off as a failed case and say that I'm stepping in under your order to ensure that the position does not fall to 'Potter's Power-Hungry Grasp'."

"Very good," Claridina nodded approvingly, flashing him a cold grin. "Now go along. You have much to do."

"Thank you, My Lady," Eppilep said, bowing.

Claridina waited until Eppilep was out of sight until she continued down the corridor and stopped at the last door.

She opened it and saw Draco sitting by his fireplace looking tired and worn. When he caught sight of her he stood up right away. "My-My Lady."

"Draco, Draco," Claridina said, strutting into the room. "You look just awful. I hope I'm not the cause of your faltered appearance."

"Just-just been busy," Draco said.

"Of course you have," Claridina said. "I put a great deal of trust in you. And I'm about to place even more in you."

"What do you mean, My Lady?"

"I have everything," she said, walking over to his window and looking out it. "Except one thing: Hogwarts continues to remain outside my grasp."

Draco did not say anything.

"You're going to play a key role in my plan to take the school," Claridina continued. "It was nearly mine during the attack, but other…circumstances kept me from claiming it. I will not let that stop me, though. Hogwarts will be mine."

"What-what do you need me to do?" Draco asked shakily.

"I have an old…comrade, at the school," Claridina said. "I believe you know him. Horace Slughorn?"

Draco nodded. "Y-Yes. He was the potions master my sixth year-"

"Yes, yes, I know that," Claridina said. "I'm very familiar with his work. He's a fair potions master, but not too impressive, and of course he's nothing compared to me. But he's weak. With enough…convincing he just might be valuable to me."

Draco paused before saying, "You want me to try and convince him to be a spy for us?"

"Not a spy, per say," Claridina said. "More of a pawn. That man will do whatever I need him to do with the right amount of bribery and blackmail."

Draco nodded. "I will go to him immediately."

"He'll be simple enough to track," Claridina said. "Idiot's not too handy with any sort of protection spell, though he's done enough hiding in his years, so you'd think he would've been. Start nice with him, but if he gives you any problems, just remind him that Claridina has always been meaning to thank him for what he's done for her. That will get him do whatever you tell him."

"And what am I telling him to do, My Lady?"

Claridina smirked and handed Draco a small slip of parchment. Draco read it and his eyes grew wide.

"If everything goes accordingly," Claridina said in a sickly smooth voice. "Hogwarts school will be under my control by the start of the term. And then, Potter will have nothing."

She turned and left the room, leaving Draco still gaping at the parchment.

She returned to her own office and settled down on the sofa.

Everything was in motion now. Soon she'd have ultimate control, even of Hogwarts, the one thing that Potter had left.

Potter…Claridina knew that even after she had instated her own ministry and destroyed his reputation among the public he would continue to be a problem. He had to be eliminated. She watched the flames of the fireplace flicker back and forth.

_The girl's had enough time,_ she thought to herself. _She's made the Vow, and now she's going to follow through with it. _

Claridina rose again and walked out of the hideout into the fresh air and apperated into the night, the thought of Harry's downfall still deep in her mind.


	8. Chapter 8

"What is this place?" Albus asked his father as Harry and Ginny led their children into Grimmauld Place.

"My godfather's old house," Harry replied.

"Are those house-elf heads?" Lily cringed.

"I'll take them upstairs," Ginny said to Harry.

"Why can't we stay down here?" Ginny asked. "What are all of you doing that's so important?'

"Never you mind that," Ginny said sternly. "Now come on."

"I thought we heard you come in," Hermione said, walking into the front hallway. "We're all here; we're just waiting for Kingsley now."

Harry nodded as he followed her into a large room near the living area where about twenty people stood waiting.

"Are we going to start without Kingsley?" Teddy asked Harry.

Harry shook his head. "We need him to be here."

Ginny walked into the room and took her seat next to Harry. "Make sure to soundproof this room," she said. "I'm pretty sure I just walked in on the kids plotting to eavesdrop on us."

"I hid all of my Extendable Ears," George said. "But I wouldn't put it past them to find some other way to listen in."

They heard the front door open.

"That'll be Kingsley," Bill said.

Sure enough, Kingsley entered the room in the next moment. He looked worried and out of breath.

"Where have you been?" Arthur asked. "Are you alright?"

"Yes, you look awful," Hermione agreed.

"The Ministry building's are up again," Kingsley said. "Claridina's rebuilt them."

"Are you sure it was her?" Molly asked.

"Who else would it be?" Ron pointed out.

"This means that it's only a matter of time before she begins placing her followers into the positions," Harry said.

"We won't have to wait that long," Kingsley said gravely, pulling out a crumpled newspaper from his robe pocket. "Arrived just before I left."

He handed Harry the copy of the _Evening Prophet _with a large headline reading: **A New Ministry is Born**.

"Oh my goodness," Ginny said softly. "She's-She's really done it."

"She didn't make herself Minister of Magic?" Teddy frowned, scanning the article underneath the headline.

"She doesn't have to," Charlie said. "She can just use him as a puppet."

"Who is this bloke she made minister anyway?" George asked.

"Maxwell Eppilep," Hermione read. "Hang on, isn't he the one who-"

"-represented her case three years ago with the Basilisk egg," Harry nodded. "Yeah, he is."

"I'm afraid this was the final blow to us," Kingsley said. "A good portion of our underground ministry workers will be leaving us soon to go to her, I suspect. She's officially divided us; there are her supporters and our supporters."

"So what can we do?" Percy asked.

"Nothing," Harry answered. "Except make sure our side wins."

…..

Harry stirred, slowly opening his eyes. It must've only been three or four in the morning, for the sky was still dark and Ginny was fast asleep next to him.

He didn't know why he had just woken up, especially since this was the first time in weeks he had been able to go to bed before sunrise. Harry sat himself up and slid on his slippers and padded across the room to the window.

The village looked peaceful; there were no lights coming from any of the houses, nobody running around…Harry frowned. He saw a figure coming into view now. It was staggering unsteadily very close to his front yard. Harry knew that whoever this trespasser was couldn't see the house thanks to all the protective charms surrounding it, but all the same, it unnerved him to know that an unknown trespasser was so close to him and his family.

"Harry?" Ginny said sleepily, bringing herself up on her elbows. "What are you doing?"

"Somebody's outside," Harry said, grabbing his dressing robe and pulling it on over his pajamas.

"What? Who?"

"I'm not sure," Harry said, picking up his wand. "Stay here; protective charms are working, at least."

Ginny nodded. "Be careful."

Harry quickly went down the stairs, making sure he skipped the ones that squeaked, and opened the front door.

The figure was facing the other direction, so Harry could not see his face. As he walked past the protective barrier, he couldn't help but feel just a little bit vulnerable. His wand at the ready, Harry approached the figure,

"Show yourself," he said sharply.

The figure spun around. "Harry…Harry."

"Draco?"

Harry had never seen Draco looking so beaten. His face was smeared with dirt and his robes were torn and he had the appearance of a person who had lost a lot of weight in a short amount of time. His eyes were what looked the worst, though. They were wide and crazed.

"Harry," Draco said again. "She wants…but I-I can't…not again…"

"Claridina wants you to do something?" Harry asked, trying to make sense of the incoherent phrases that were coming out of Draco's mouth.

"She wants it…" Draco mumbled. "I-I can't do it."

"Okay, okay," Harry said. He looked around making sure the two of them weren't being watched.

"Come on," Harry said. "Come inside before somebody sees you here."

"I can't…I can't," Draco said as he followed Harry.

Harry led him into the kitchen. "Sit down," Harry told him, flicking on the light. He opened the cupboard and searched for something that would hopefully help Draco.

"Don't make me…please, don't make me," Draco muttered.

"Just drink this," Harry said, sliding a steaming mug in front of him. "It will help."

Draco grabbed the drink and gulped it down.

"Now what's going on?" Harry asked. "What does Claridina want you to do?"

"She-She wants Hogwarts," Draco said, his voice sounding a bit less hysteric, though shaky all the same.

Harry nodded. "I figured that. And does she want you to help her get it?"

"Yes," Draco said. "Yes…She-she's planning on using Slughorn."

"Sughorn?" Harry repeated. "What for?"

"She says that he's easy to manipulate," Draco replied. "And-and she has some sort of blackmail on him."

"Okay, okay," Harry said. "So what does she want you to get Slughorn to do?"

"Kill McGonagall."

Harry's eyes widened. "Are you sure?"

"I'm supposed to convince him that she's on your side and that according to the papers you've lost your way," Draco sighed. "And if that doesn't work I'm to blackmail him, and if that still doesn't work I have to use the Imperius Curse. He'll take over as headmaster after that and orchestrate Claridina's demands."

"But why does she need Slughorn to do it?" Harry frowned. "It would be easier for her to do it herself."

"She believes that if Slughorn is the one to do it, the other teachers will believe he really acted for the best," Draco replied. "She-She seems to think he has the other teachers respect there."

"Well, she's wrong about that," Harry said. "If Slughorn does anything to McGonagall the other teachers will make him pay. Flitwick, Neville…they'll all see through it."

"But you don't understand," Draco said gravely. "If they do take down Slughorn Claridina will just send in someone else to replace him! Someone much more powerful than he was! She's going to turn Hogwarts back into what it was when Voldemort was in power, or maybe even worse!"

Harry could feel his fingers clench. "We won't let that happen."

"My son," Draco said desperately. "My son will be at the school… he'll have to suffer! And I can't even have my wife not send him; Claridina will know something isn't right then and she'll have me _and_ him killed!"

Harry nodded gravely. "Have you found where Slughorn is?"

"I-I, yes," Draco said. "Yes, it's a small cottage outside Dublin. But why?"

"I'm going to have protective spells put all around it," Harry said. "Apperate there tomorrow; your presence will set off a sort of alarm. Claridina's taught you how to get through most protective charms, right?"

Draco nodded.

"Then do it," Harry said. "Talk to Slughorn, but stall as long as you can without making it seem too obvious. The Aurors and me will arrive and fight you…I'll stun you," Harry added. "And take your wand. We'll then take Slughorn and put him into hiding after that, and take you into the underground ministry. I'm sure he spies will alert Claridina right away. Do you know if she would risk rescuing you?"

"Not her directly," Draco said. "But she'll send somebody. I know too much; she can't risk you getting any information from me."

"Good," Harry nodded. "Now you understand everything? The protection will be in place at Slughorn's cottage as soon as possible. We'll put the same charms around all of the other teachers' locations, just so Claridina doesn't get suspicious. If everything goes according to plan, Claridina will think that we simply wanted to protect the teachers from anything she tried; she won't have a clue we knew about this whole plan."

"It's brilliant," Draco said softly. "Thank you."

"Does Claridina know you're gone?"

"Yes, but she believes I'm locating Slughorn," he replied. "I came here right after I found the place. I need to be getting back now, though. She'll be expecting me back."

"Right," Harry said. "Wait!"

"What is it?"

"Has Claridina ever mentioned the name Alexandra Dursely around you?" Harry asked.

Draco thought hard. "Yes," he said slowly. "She was talking to another one of her followers. Said something about the girl needing to warm up to her. I didn't know what it meant. Why do you ask?"

"Just something I've been checking out," Harry said quickly. "Now hurry up and get back to Claridina."

Draco nodded and with a loud pop, he disapperated from the kitchen.

Harry headed back up to his bedroom but met Ginny halfway up the stairs.

"Who was outside?" she asked. "I heard voices from the kitchen."

"It was Draco," Harry said.

"Malfoy? What did he want?"

"I'll explain in the morning," Harry told her. "Let's go back to bed; before we wake the kids up."


	9. Chapter 9

Alexandra slowly buttered her toast.

"You need to eat more than that," her father told her. "Take some eggs."

"I'm not really hungry," she muttered.

Dudley frowned. "You haven't been eating that much lately; are you feeling okay?"

"Just homesick, I suppose," Alexandra replied. She stuffed a few bites of toast in her mouth so her father would feel better. After excusing herself from the table, Alexandra went back to the bedroom.

When she reached the closed door, she felt a sudden warmth radiating from the room. Alexandra tried to think of what could be the cause of this as she opened the door; and then the real shock came.

Claridina was standing by the window, staring right at Alexandra.

Alexandra wanted to scream, but then she remembered her father was just a few footsteps away in the kitchen, so fighting back the urge, she quickly shut the door behind her.

"What are you doing here?" Alexandra whispered shakily.

"It seems one of Potter's Aurors finally messed up the protective spells around your house," Claridina said, smirking.

"Get out," Alexandra said softly, feeling a sudden surge of courage coursing through her veins.

"Have you forgotten your little vow?" Claridina asked, unmoved by Alexandra's tone.

"I don't care about that any more," Alexandra said, her eyes narrowing. "I'm not going to help you kill Harry."

"Then you will die," Claridina said harshly, stepping closer to her.

Alexandra felt her palms begin to sweat. _She's bluffing_, she told herself. _She's bluffing_…

"You wouldn't kill your own daughter," she said in a voice that sounded much more sure than she really was.

Claridina rose an eyebrow. "Oh?" She whipped out her wand and in one swift movement, Alexandra found herself thrown to the ground. She felt as though an invisible rope had been tied around her neck and was becoming tighter and tighter…she could hardly breathe and everything seemed to be getting fuzzy.

Claridina stared down at the scene, unblinking, and Alexandra could tell that this woman would let her die this slow and painful death without batting an eye.

"S-Stop," she gasped.

Claridina waited a moment before finally stopping the curse.

"I hope we're done with all of this nonsense now," she said. "You _will _help me kill Potter, or you will die."

Alexandra felt a shiver run down her spine as the full reality of her situation finally set in. Claridina wasn't bluffing; this all really was real.

"And it's time for you to start," Claridina said firmly. "Potter's been too quiet recently; he's planning something. That pathetic underground ministry will be completely dissolved in a few days' time; he knows that, I'm sure. But Potter's not one to stand by and accept defeat. You, you girl, are going to find out for me what he is working on. You'll make an excuse to contact him as soon as I am gone. I will return to see your progress in one week; and if you fail to tell me anything of value…well, that would certainly be in violation of your vow."

"And what if he catches me?" Alexandra asked in a voice that wasn't her own.

"That's also in violation of your Vow," she said sharply. "As you can see…failure is not an option."

And with that, Alexandra's mother disappeared from the room, leaving a smell of burning flames behind.

Alexandra stared at the spot where Claridina had been staring. Thoughts still spinning like mad in her head, Alexandra knew she had no time to waste. Her very life depended on her helping to take someone else's, and as much as she hated that fact, she knew that if she wanted to stay alive, there was nothing she could do.

Her hand shaking, Alexandra sat down on the bed and reached for the phone that sat on the bedside table and dialed.

"Hello?"

"Hello, Harry?" Alexandra said softly. "You-You said to call you if Claridina ever tried to contact me again."

"She-She did then?" Harry asked. "When?"

"Just now," Alexandra said. "Could I please come and see you?"

"Yes, of course," Harry said at once. "I'll be at your house right away and I'll operate with you and your father back here."

"Thank you," she said, and then hung up.

She had just earned herself into Harry's home; now she would just have to make sure it was a worthwhile visit.

She felt a pain radiate through her body at the thought of what she had to do.

_I have no choice,_ she told herself firmly. _It's not my fault. _

…**..**

**AN- I'm going to be unable to update until Sunday; I'm very sorry, but I'm going to be out of town going to my college for freshmen Orientation and I will not have time to write. **


	10. Chapter 10

"Claridina contacted her?" Ron frowned as Harry hurriedly threw on his trainers and stuck his wand in his pocket.

"Yeah," Harry nodded. "That's what Alexandra told me, at least."

"Through a letter or did Claridina actually show up at the house?"

"She didn't say," Harry said. "But either way, it's not good. I'm going over there now to get her and talk with her."

"Good luck, mate," Ron told him. "Hope she gives you some information."

Harry left his lot and apperated to the site where he knew Dudley and Alexandra were staying. He was able to get past the protective spells fairly quickly, having helped create them himself, and stepped up the few steps to the door and knocked.

"Harry?" Dudley frowned as he opened the door. "What are you doing here?"

"Er, Alexandra didn't tell you I was coming?" Harry asked.

"No. Wait, when did you tell her you were coming?"

"A few minutes ago," Harry replied. "Over the phone."

"I-I didn't know anything about that," Dudley said, opening the door wider so his cousin could come in. "Why-Why did she call you."

"She said Claridina tried to contact her again," Harry said.

"What?" Dudley exclaimed. "When?"

"I-I don't know, that's why I came over here," Harry said. "I was going to apperate the two of you somewhere to talk…unless you wanted to stay here."

"That-that might be best," Dudley said weakly. "Alexandra! Alexandra, come out here!"

Harry thought it was a bit off that Alexandra hadn't even told her father of Claridina's contact with her, but when he saw her step out of the small bedroom and head into the kitchen to join him and Dudley, he put that thought in the back of her head.

"Alexandra," Dudley said at once. "S-She contacted you? When? How? Why didn't you tell me?"

"It-It was just a few moments ago," Alexandra said shakily. "And I didn't tell you because I didn't want you to panic."

"Alexandra," Harry said before Dudley could speak again. "How did she contact you? Did she physically come over to you? Did she manage to get through the protection?"

"No," she said, glancing at the ground. "She, er, she-she sent me an, um, Howler."

"A what?" Dudley asked. "What's a Howler?"

"It's a sort of letter that sort of screams at you, to keep it in laments terms," Harry explained. "It's pretty loud; are you sure you didn't hear it?"

"There was some sort of spell on it so only I could hear it," Alexandra said quickly. "And-And after the message the whole thing sort of exploded, so I don't have it anymore."

"Well what did the message say?" Harry asked. "Was she threatening you?"

"Kind of…" Alexandra said. "She, er, I mean, the Howler, said that she was going to make-make everyone that was fighting her pay, and that if I was smart I'd tell you to stop trying to hunt her down. And then that was is."

"I thought we were supposed to be protected!" Dudley said. "How is this woman still able to torment her?"

"Claridina knows magic that not even the most powerful sorcerers know," Harry said gravely. "And unfortunately, she's getting more powerful by the minute. I don't know if you've heard, but she's started up our Ministry again; under her control."

"So-So that's in then?" Dudley asked softly. "She's won?"

"No," Harry said firmly. "We're going to fight this; there are still those, however few there may be right now, that are still opposing her, that know what she really is. Do you remember me mentioning the Order of the Phoenix when were growing up?"

"Yeah…yeah, the name sounds vaguely familiar," Dudley nodded. "But-But what _is_ it, exactly?"

Alexandra perked up as well. "Yeah, what is it?"

"It's an organization," Harry said. "That was started back when Lord Voldemort was in power for the first time. When he came back it was reformed, and now, after everything Claridna's proved she could do, we've started it up again. We already know that Claridina's infiltrated what's left of our underground Ministry, so we've been meeting in secret to work out what we need to do to take away as much of her power as we can."

"So-So this Order," Dudley said. "Is completely against her?"

"Yes," Harry nodded. "And right now, she still doesn't know anything about it. That's good for us, it means we've got the element of surprise on her; once out underground ministry collapses completely, she'll think she's won it all."

"I'm just worried," Dudley sighed, looking next to him at Alexandra. "What if she tries to contact Alexandra again? What do we do?"

"Don't respond," Harry said. "And let me know. Alexandra, you did good."

Alexandra nodded, but Harry noticed she refused to look him in the eye.

"We're going to tighten your protection around here," Harry continued. "We'll make sure owls or any other creature that could be helping Claridina deliver messages will be blocked. But if she somehow gets through all of that, call me. Aurors are still keeps a tight watch around here, so it will be very hard, if not impossible, for her to get here unnoticed."

"Right," Dudley said. "Thank you."

Harry nodded. "I've got to be going. Is there anything else you need?" He looked at Alexandra, but she shook her head silently.

"I'll be off then," Harry said. "I'll-I'll see you."  
And with that, Harry headed out the door and apperated away.

….

"The signal from the alarm should be coming any minute now," Hermione said.

"Unless you see Claridina there, we're aiming to stun," Harry said firmly to his Aurors.

"Do any of them know about Malfoy?" Ron whispered to Harry as the rest of the Aurors continued to wait.

"No," Harry muttered back. "That information isn't even being released to everyone in the Order."

"There's the signal!" Hermione said, pointing up to the sky where a series of red sparks began to erupt. Any muggle onlookers would mistake these sparks for fireworks, but Harry and the others knew that they were alerting them to a break in at Slughorn's cottage.

"Move out!" Harry ordered. "Apperate to the location I gave you earlier!"

There were several loud cracks as Harry and Ron and the rest of the Aurors apperated to Slughorn's cottage. When they arrived they saw that Slughorn's front door had been torn off its hinges and a loud scream came from inside.

Everyone rushed in, Harry leading the way, and followed the voices into the kitchen.

Malfoy stood, his wand pointed at Slughorn.

"Don't do this boy!" Slughorn cried desperately. "I was your teacher! I taught-"

"Put your wand down!" Harry said loudly to Draco, pointing his own wand at him.

Malfoy ignored the order and sent a curse at Slughorn, making the professor cry out in pain.

At once several of Harry's Aurors sent spells at Malfoy, but he successfully blocked them all.

"You're a fool, Potter, just as you have always been!" Draco cried. "To think that this pathetic gang of Aurors can defeat me, a hand-picked servant of the Dark Lady!"

Harry sent a stunning spell at Draco, which he blocked again.

"You're surrounded," Harry said. "Drop your wand!"

Draco gave a cold grin, one Harry hadn't seen in years, and fired a killing spell into the crowd of Aurors, but it didn't hit anybody. Harry knew Draco had near perfect aim with his spells, though. "Expelliarmus!" Harry cried, and before Malfoy could raise his wand again to block the curse, his wand flew from his hand and one of the other Aurors grabbed it. Harry sent a stunning spell at Malfoy, and he instantly crumpled to the ground.

"Is-Is he dead?" Slughorn asked. Harry had nearly forgotten about him cowering in the corner near his table. "Get me out of here! I'm not safe!"

"You're fine now," Ron said irritably, helping the professor to his feet with much struggle. "Come on, we'll get you out of here."

With the help of two more Aurors, Ron managed to drag him out of the house.

"Secure the area," Harry said to the remaining Aurors. "I'm taking him back to the underground for questioning."

Once the kitchen was clear, Harry kneeled beside Malfoy's still body, grabbed his arm and apperated back to the underground ministry.

Phase one of this plan had gone through without any problems; now he only had to pray the rest of the plan would sail through just like this.


	11. Chapter 11

**AN- Just wanted to clear up some confusion that everyone has seemed to been having. When Alexandra and Claridina made the Unbreakable Vow in the Room of Requirements in chapter 64 of Oddity, I know Claridina didn't mention that Alexandra couldn't tell anybody about the vow when her and her son were making the vow. However, in the next chapter, when Claridina led Alexandra to the forest, she told her that if she spoke of the vow to anybody, the same consequences would apply as if she had broken the vow (meaning she would be killed). Now I realize that J.K. Rowling never said that someone couldn't speak of an Unbreakable Vow if they're part of one or they'll die, but Claridina knew that Alexandra knew nothing of Unbreakable Vows, so she knew that Alexandra would believe her when she said that. Sorry for any confusion. **

…

Malfoy's body ached from the stunning spell, but that pain was nothing compared to the anxiety he felt coursing through his veins as he sat, chained, in the small, cold office in the underground ministry. What would Claridina do to him when she got a hold of him? Kill him for failing? He found that he didn't even care if that ended up happening, so long as his son was safe.

He knew something was going to happen soon; he saw the ministry workers that were spies for Claridina run off the second he came to from the stunning spell. They would've alerted her by now. He was confident that she would rescue him form the ministry, she couldn't risk him revealing any of the information he knew to the ministry.

He glanced out the tiny, barred window to his right. If only none of this had happened…If only his father hadn't gotten involved in the Dark Arts, Claridina wouldn't have forced him to join her because of his own background…he could've been free.

If only.

….

"What went wrong?" Claridina hissed angrily as she stormed down the corridor of her hideout. "How did Potter know we were coming?"

"Carrison and Jorgson said that there were apparently protective spells around all of the teacher's living corridors," Eppilep said, jogging to keep up with her. "They didn't know about the protections, Potter clearly didn't tell every one of his Aurors."

"They'll be punished," Claridina said coldly. "As soon as they've done there parts helping me get Draco from the underground, they're going to pay for their ignorance."

"As they should," Eppilep nodded in agreement.

"This sets us back, Max," Claridina sneered. "Slughorn will be put in a more secure hiding spot until the start of the school term; finding his will be difficult. And after this fright, he'll be more unwilling."

"The school is controlled by the ministry, though, isn't it, My Lady," Eppilep said. "Forgive me, but would it not be much simpler for you to simply gain control of Hogwarts through it?"

"You don't know how much of a connection Potter has to that school," Claridina said. "He's made sure over his years in the ministry that Hogwarts has its own governing. And that bag of a headmistress is far to loyal to Potter to be coerced."

"Perhaps you could still get to Slughorn then," Eppilep suggested. "Another way. You'd be able to find him with a bit of searching, and you _do _still have the blackmail over him; the man wants a clean reputation so badly that he'd be willing to your dirty work despite the blunder."

"Of course, Maxie, of course," Claridina nodded, speaking more calmly now. "I am confident that Hogwarts will be mine one way or another by September the First. It's a shame, though, that I will have to wait simply because of the inabilities of my spies to gather the proper information."

"I can assure you, My Lady, they will suffer," Eppilep said. "The moment they arrive back with Draco."

"I will handle that," she said with a cruel grin. "In the meantime, make sure that this is the last blunder I have to deal with."

…

"Harry!" Nail, on of the Aurors in the Order, cried, bursting into Harry and Ron's shared office. "Malfoy…he's gone!"

Harry and Ron exchanged glances.

"Are you sure?" Harry asked.

"Positive," Nail nodded, catching his breath. "I-I don't know how he escaped. I went into the room to see if he had woken up yet from the stunning spell and he was gone!"

"Tell Kingsley to secure the area," Harry said, getting to his feet at once. "You be on the look out as well."

"Didn't think it would be that quick," Ron mumbled as him and Harry raced down the corridor towards the room where Draco was supposed to be.

"She must have more spies than we thought here," Harry muttered back. "Which means the underground will be falling sooner than we thought."

"I just heard the news," Hermione said, running to a stop outside the door just as Ron and Harry had reached it. "Is he really gone?"

Harry opened the door and looked into the empty room. "Looks like it."

"I thought she would've made a bit more of a scene," Ron said. "Not that I'm complaining."

"She was caught off guard," Harry said. "She'd want to get Draco out of here as quickly and efficiently as possible."

"What do you think she'll do to Malfoy?" Hermione asked softly.  
"I'd be more worried what she's going to do with those spies of her," Harry replied. "She was counting on them to make sure all of her operations didn't get out attention."

"Do you think she'll try to get to Slughorn again, though?" Ron asked.

"She'll have to," Harry nodded. "He's her ticket to Hogwarts."

"Wonder what kind of blackmail she has on him," Ron said.

"It will be useless to ask him," Harry sighed. "You remember what it was like trying to get that bit of information about Voldemort out of him. He's too ashamed."

"Well, either way, he's in very grave danger," Hermione said.

"I know," Harry nodded. "Which is why guarding him is going to have to become one of the top priorities for the Order. He's the only thing standing between Claridina's hold on Hogwarts. Hogwarts has got to be kept safe. No matter what."


	12. Chapter 12

"Our primary concern right now is to keep Hogwarts untouched by Claridina," Harry explained to Professor McGonagall. "So that when the school reopens in September, it will still be under your control."

"Quite frankly, Potter, I don't know how many students will be returning to the school this year," McGonagall said gravely. "After everything that happened there last year…"

"But Claridina did all of that," Ron pointed out. "And right now she's making herself seem like a hero. Parents shouldn't be concerned about that attack anymore."

"But right now, everyone knows that she doesn't control Hogwarts," Hermione said. "And that Professor McGonagall _does_ and that she's loyal to Kingsley and Harry. And you know how Harry's being portrayed right now."

"Exactly right, Granger. You saw how hesitant parents were to send their children back to school when the damned _Prophet_ was making Dumbledore seem like a crackpot old fool." McGonagall nodded. She turned back to Harry. "Now you say that she was trying to have Slughorn help her?"

"She apparently has some sort of blackmail on him," Harry said. "I've tried asking him about it, but he's insisting she's lying."

"Horace has always been more concerned about making sure he is well liked than doing what is right," she sighed.

"You cannot let Slughorn you know about the blackmail, though," Harry told her. "We can't have too many people knowing about it or Claridina will get suspicious."

McGonagall nodded.

"We're also going to have to count on you, Neville, Hagrid and Flitwick to keep the castle as safe for the students as possible," Harry said. "You're the only teachers in the Order."

"Of course," she said. "Now, I don't mean to sound rude, you three, but I really must be going back to the school now; we still have much to do with the repairs."

"Alright," Harry said. "We'll tell you any new information we have as soon as we can."

The trio followed McGonagall out of the room where they had been talking at Grimmauld Place.

"Minerva, would you like to stay for lunch?" Molly asked as they crossed into the kitchen. "I'm making lamb chops."

"No thank you, I'm afraid, Molly," she replied. "No time. I'll be seeing you all shortly, I presume."

And with that, she quickly headed to the front door.

"So how's Hogwarts holding up?" Bill asked, sitting down at the kitchen table.

"Claridina hasn't had any luck so far," Ron said. "Though we don't know if she's even tried anything more than getting Slughron since her attacks."

"Don't know why she'd be after him of all people," George said, trying to grab a lamb chop from the platter his mum was holding, only to have her slap away his hand. "I mean, it's not as if he's got too much authority there."

"It's the blackmail, George," Hermione reminded him. "She knows very well that any of the teachers with the most authority there, Neville…Flitwick…they'd all die before they'd go along with her plans. Slughorn is more apt to do it just to keep whatever it is that Claridina's holding over him from coming out."

"Keep your voice down," Harry mumbled. "Kids might hear."

"Fleur took them all upstairs a few minutes ago," Molly told him. "Her and I found an old boggart in one of the wardrobes there and they all seemed pretty entertained by it."

"Well, we're back from Neville's," Ginny said, apperating suddenly into the kitchen with Charlie and her father. "The other guards just took our places."

"Neville still not happy about having guards all around his flat?" Harry asked as he gave his wife a quick kiss.

"He understands that we have to do it, but he's just not a fan of being babysat," Charlie replied.

Harry nodded in understanding.

"Well it's a necessary precaution," Molly said firmly, setting down a plate of steaming potatoes and a jug of cold pumpkin juice. "I'd hate for anything to happen to him."

"We all would, Molly," Arthur agreed as more of the Order members began to file into the kitchen, clearly drawn by the smell of the delicious looking lunch on the table.

"Have you finished drawing up the guard schedule for tomorrow?" Bill asked as the members began to take their seats and Molly started upstairs to fetch the children and Fleur.

"Oh, yeah, I have," Harry said, pulling out a crumpled up sheet of parchment from his pocket. "Alright, the guards for all of the professors except Slughorn, Trelawny and Flitwick will be the same as last Monday. The first shift for Slughorn will be me, Teddy and Kent Rogers, and then Angelina, Ron and Kingsley will replace us for the second shift. Hagrid and Bill will take Trelawny first, and then Percy and Hermione will replace them. Arthur and Linda Follicer will guard Flitwick and then Charlie and Fleur will relieve them."

"Good thinking putting Hermione with Percy," Ron whispered so only Harry could hear him. "She's the only one who can at least pretend to listen to him ramble on."

"Mum really outdid herself with these lamb chops," George commented, piling five onto his plate. "Has anyone noticed that her cooking never seems to suffer whenever there's something-"

"Excuse me," Victoire said loudly, getting up from her seat next to her father. "But I was just wondering why I wasn't put on guard duty."

Harry stole a quick glance at Bill, who had dropped his knife and was staring up at his daughter.

"Vic, you-you see," Harry said quickly. "There are just more Order members than there are guard positions."

"I know that," Victoire said calmly. "Which is why the schedule rotates, doesn't it?"

"Yes, but-"

"But I wasn't on the schedule last time either," she continued. "Or the time before that. All I've been doing for the Order is sitting in a little room upstairs playing with potions."

"That's very important," Hermione told her. "We all know how Claridina uses potions. We need someone that can try to get us to her level in that aspect."

"No," Victoire said softly. "That's not it. The only reason I'm doing that is so that I can't go out and fight."

"That's not true," Bill said at once. "It's-"

"Yes it is!" she said loudly. "Everybody here is so scared for me to go out there and do something useful!"

"Being in the Order isn't all about fighting," Harry said.

"Everybody else here has been through much more dueling training than you have been," Bill said firmly. "You're only one year out of school-"

"Teddy's barely two years out!" she pointed out, her face red. "And he's doing just as much as everybody else."

"Teddy's had Auror training," Arthur reminded her.

Victoire ignored this. She looked over at Teddy, who was sitting next to George, very quiet. "You did this," she said spitefully. And with that she stormed out of the kitchen, nearly running Louis over as Molly, Fleur and the children entered the kitchen.

"Bill, what ez going on?" Fleur asked as her daughter rushed past her.

"Exactly what I was afraid of," he sighed, pushing back his chair and getting to his feet. "Come on. We need to talk to her, though I doubt she'll let us."

"What happened?" James asked, sitting down next to his parents. "Why was Vic so upset?"

"Never you mind," Ginny said.

"I hope she'll be okay," Hermione said worriedly.

"This is why I'm glad our kids are all still underage," Ron mumbled to Harry.

Harry glanced over at Teddy, who hadn't touched his food and was staring down at the ground.

"Peas, Teddy?" Molly asked, holding out a large bowl to the blue haired boy.

"No thanks," he said softly. He pushed back his chair. "I'm not very hungry right now."

Without looking at anybody he quickly hurried out of the kitchen.

Harry stood up as well. "I'll be back in a minute," he said, and then hurried after his godson.

…..

Alexandra paced nervously in the bedroom. It had been one week since Claridina had appeared in here. One week since she had taken the first step in her Vow and had talked to Harry. She new her mother would be back any time today, expecting new which she would unfortunately give her.

She hoped Claridina would at least make sure that Dudley was kept oblivious in all of this. Right now her father was taking a nap on the couch, so if Claridina was going to come today, now would be the time.

She sat herself down on the bed and tried to calm herself. _Maybe she won't come_ she found herself thinking. _Maybe she forgot…_

"I don't forget," came a voice from behind her.

Alexandra jumped off the bed and spun around to see her mother. When had she gotten there? And could she read minds?

"I expect you have some…information for me," she said lightly. "It would be such a shame if you didn't follow through with my instructions."

"I talked to Harry," she said softly.

"Such a good girl," she said, her eyes shining wildly. "What did you find out?"

"There's some sort of organization," she said, looking around the room so she wouldn't have to look at the woman standing beside her. "That's been around for years. It was originally created to fight Voldemort."

"The Dark Lord?" Claridina breathed. "Well then Dumbledore must've formed it. Potter was close to him; of course he would rebuild it. What is this organization called?"

"The Order of the Phoenix," she answered putting her hands nervously on her lap. "They're working to stop you."

"How?"

"I-I-he didn't say anything specific," Alexandra told her. "But he said that he wants to keep you from finding out about the Order so they'll still have the element of surprise even after the underground ministry collapses; he knows you've infiltrated it."

Claridina's eyes widened, and for a second, Alexandra swore she saw a glimmer of fear, but it was gone in a second.

"And that's all," she finished desperately.

Claridina stood, slowly and silently. She was still for a moment, as if in deep thought.

"You did well," she finally said. "You've helped me greatly."

Without another word, Claridina disappeared.

_You helped me greatly_…those words echoed in Alexandra's head. What had she done? That was easy, she had just helped Claridina get one step closer to whatever sick goal she had.


	13. Chapter 13

Teddy hurried up the stairs of at Grimmauld Place, silently passing Bill and Fleur, who were knocking on the door the Weasley cousins usually hung out in. But Teddy knew Victoire wouldn't be there. He climbed up another flight of stairs and knocked on the door that housed the smallest, most cluttered room in the house. Victoire liked sorting through the stuff, she said it relaxed her.

She opened the door, her face red and tearstained. "I have nothing to say to you," she spat viciously at him.

"Yeah, well," Teddy said firmly, letting himself into the room before Victoire had a chance to slam the door in his face. "I've got quite a bit to say to you."

Victoire narrowed her eyes. "Like what?"

"What was all of that downstairs?" Teddy said. "You acted like a child who didn't get her way."

"Maybe that's because everyone insists on treating me like a child," she retorted.

"No one's treating you like that!" he exclaimed. "Just because you're not out there fighting-"

"-While everyone else is," she cut in.

"No they're not, Vic!" Teddy said, exasperated. "Your grandmother doesn't, and she's been in the Order for years!"

"Oh don't start that rubbish," Victoire snapped. "Of course she's not fighting, she's far too old!"

"Just like you're too young," he pointed out.

"I'm a year younger than you!"

"Yeah, and in that year while I was out of Hogwarts and you weren't," Teddy said. "I was training with the Aurors. I fought some of Claridina's followers during her attack. I've proved myself."

"And I want to prove myself too!" she said loudly. "But no one's giving me a chance!"

"Victoire, everyone's told you this a million times," Teddy said, trying to keep his voice calm. "You're one year out of school. Do you really think you'd stand even a remote chance against one of Claridina's followers? Or her herself? Answer me that, Vic. Honestly."

She pursed her lips tightly and stared daggers at him.

"You're in the Order," Teddy continued softly. "You'll-You'll get your chance to fight. You've just got to be patient."

"You still had no right to make sure Uncle Harry only put me on potions," she said in a harsh whisper.

Teddy knew that her father was behind that; Harry had told him himself. But he also knew that Bill wouldn't want her to know that he was the one who ordered that, so he remained silent.

"I don't need protecting," she continued. "If I die fighting…then so it is."

"Then so it is?" he repeated, anger now boiling in his veins. "So it is? Victoire, in case you didn't realize it, there are loads of people in this damn Order who would have feelings a bit more sincere than 'so it is' if you were to die out there! Have you thought of what your parents would feel? Dominique and Louis? Me?" He stopped, breathing heavily. "What about me?" he said softly. "Do you know what it would be like for me if you died?"

Victoire looked down at the ground, silent tears streaming down her cheeks. "Then maybe," she said in a shaky whisper. "We shouldn't be doing this."

"Doing what?"

"Maybe we shouldn't be with each other."

Teddy stood there, speechless. "Okay," he said after a minute. "Okay, fine. We'll pretend we never happened."

"I don't mean pretend-"

"I know what you meant," Teddy said. He turned and quickly headed back downstairs as Victoire called after him.

He had just reached the landing of the second floor when he nearly crashed into Harry.

"Sorry," he mumbled.

"Where have you been?" Harry asked him. "I came looking for you. Are you alright?"

Teddy nodded. "I'm fine."

He knew Harry knew he was lying, and he appreciated the fact that Harry chose not to press the issue.

"I think I'll go check in on Gran," he said, his hair changing to a powdery blue. "See how she's holding up."

"Okay," Harry nodded. "I'll come and fetch you at midnight when we're to start our guard shift."

"Thanks," he muttered, and he continued down the steps, apperating away when he reached the foot of them.

…

_He knows_ Claridina thought furiously as she stormed through the corridors of her hideout. _He knows about my spies. _

He wasn't supposed to find until later, much later; not until after she had a chance to get every possible grain of information from those spies.

How long had he known? Could all of those searches for her that her spies had been telling her about, the ones that had her whereabouts in Italy, France and Prague, been false?

_They must've slipped up_, she thought furiously. _Those idiots…first they mess up Slughorn's attack, now they've gone and made themselves known?_

She threw open the door at the end of the corridor, where eight men sat, weak and beaten.

"M-My Lady," Carrison sputtered, scars and welts all along his body. "We beg for your forgiveness. We-"

"Crucio!"

The spell hit all eight men and a series of loud, pain-felt screams echoed around the room.

"You have failed me twice," she spat at them. "Twice!"

"We are sorry, My Lady," Timothy Henton breathed shakily. "We have-"

"I don't want to hear excuses!" she exclaimed, causing Henton to fall silent at once. "What use do I have for followers who cannot follow my orders? You're jobs were simple; feed me information on what Potter and his Aurors were planning without making yourselves known! You've failed me on both accounts!"

"He-He knew?" Carrison whispered.

"He knew," Claridina said in a dangerously soft voice. "And he's been forming an army to fight me right under your very noses!"

Fear was now showing in the eyes of all eight men.

"I put my trust in you," Claridina continued. "And if has backfired on me."

"It will not happen again," Carrison said. "I swear to you, it shall not-"

"Of course it won't," Claridina said, showing a cruel grin. "Avada Kedavra!"

Green light erupted from her wand, hitting all eight of the defenseless men and dropping them dead in the blink of an eye.

Without showing any sign of remorse, Claridina placed her wand back in her robes and turned out of the room.

"You disposed of all of them?" Eppilep asked, appearing at her side.

"They did not serve their purpose," she said simply. "To keep them around…how would that make me look?"

"A very good point," Eppilep nodded. "However, My Lady, as right as you were to kill them, I must admit that I am not surprised Potter has discovered your spies."

"Why is that?" Claridina asked, stopping in her tracks.

"The Dark Lord used the same trick," he replied. "Potter knows that, and knowing that, I suspect him and Kingsley and the rest of that underground ministry were on the lookout from the beginning."

"Of course," Claridina whispered. "I should've seen this coming long ago…"

"It was not your fault," Eppilep said quickly. "Those fools should've done a better job with their covers. They deserved to die."

"Yes, that's true," she said.

"You must be prepared for the underground to notice their disappearances, however," Eppilep told her.

"I won't need to," she said. "Now that I know Potters knows about my spies…well, there's no reason for me to postpone an attack on the underground ministry."


	14. Chapter 14

"If McGonagall is still planning on keeping the school open," Harry muttered. "You can count on Claridina trying to get a hold of it before then."

"What I don't understand," Ron said. "Is why she's so dead set on getting Hogwarts. She has everything else, does it really matter if there's one school that's not in her control. It can't make that much of a difference in the long run."

"It will, though," Harry told him. "If she doesn't control the school, then what's to stop McGonagall and the other teachers from spreading the truth to the students? The thing's that helping her so much right now is that more and more people are beginning to believe that she's the one who's got their best interests in mind and I'm the power hungry tyrant. If kids are taught that that's all a lie and go home and tell their parents, then she's back to being the most wanted witch in Europe."

"But then why isn't she in the open yet?" Ron asked. "Other than building up her own Ministry she's still hiding away. And that Ministry of hers hasn't done anything except make it impossible to openly oppose her."

"I don't know," Harry sighed. "It doesn't make sense to me either. The only reason I can think of is maybe she's hoping to get some more information out of those spies she has here."

"Won't do her any good, seeing as we know of them," Ron pointed out. "They don't know about the Order, and we're not exactly handing out any useful information."

"I know," Harry said frowning, a thought suddenly going through his head. "But we know that Claridina isn't one to wait around for too long."

"What are you saying?" Ron asked.

"I'm saying," Harry said. "That if that's the only reason Claridina is still staying quiet, she won't be for much longer. She'll get impatient and do something more drastic."

"Then we should start feeding those spies of hers some more serious information. Maybe let slip some fake locations of the Hogwarts teachers."

"That might be a good idea," Harry said thoughtfully.

Suddenly, the door to Harry and Ron's cramped office opened and Hermione walked in. "I've just been talking to Kingsley," she said, closing the door behind her.

"What about?" Ron asked.

"Well," she started. "We don't know how serious this is, or if we're just making out too much of it, but none of the eight workers we believe Claridina's using as spies have shown up to work today."

"None of them?" Harry frowned.

She shook her head.

"That can't be a coincidence," Ron said.

"No, it can't," Harry agreed.

"But then what could it mean?" he asked.

"Do you think she's realized that they're not getting as much information as she thought?" Hermione suggested.

"Wait a minute," Harry said slowly. "That's it, Hermione. She knows!"

"Knows what?" Ron asked.

"She knows that we know about her spies!" Harry said. "She put it together! She must've figured out that everything we did leak to them turned out to be dead ends. And I'll bet anything that the reason those spies aren't here today are because Claridina's punished them for not giving her anything significant to work with!"

"You're right," Hermione said softly.

"We knew she was going to eventually take down the underground ministry," Harry continued. "She must've been holding off only so long as she thought she could seek out information."

"And now that she knows that hasn't been working," Ron said, his face turning white. "She'll have no reason to wait any longer."

"We need to have the workers evacuate," Harry said urgently. "And someone will have to run and tell Kingsley, and the Order. She could be here at any-"

Before Harry could finish his sentence, there was a deafening boom, and all three of them were thrown off their feet.

"She's here now!" Hermione exclaimed.

Harry jumped to his feet, his wand clutched tightly in his hand, and threw open the door. He saw dozens of Claridina's followers casting curse after curse at the Ministry workers.

A silvery otter darted past Harry; Hermione had just sent a message to the Order.

"Is she here?" Ron cried, sending a strong curse over to two followers who were about to attack a woman from International Magic Cooperation.

"Yes," Harry said, even though he had not seen Claridina yet. He was going only off of the intuitive feeling in his gut.

Harry's presence was noticed instantly by Claridina's followers, and the moment they registered that he was near them, they placed all of the attention on him.

"Get out of here!" Harry yelled at Ron and Hermione, narrowly blocking a curse that was headed straight for his chest. "Find Claridina!"

"Are you mad?" Ron screamed back. "You're outnumbered about sixty to one right now!"

"He's right, Harry!" Hermione yelled, sending a Stunning spell so powerful that it knocked ten of the followers into a wall. "We're staying to help you!"

Before Harry could protest any further, another series of Stunning spells came towards the followers from behind the trio. Harry quickly glanced over his shoulder and saw Bill, Charlie, Percy and George.

"Rest of us are here too!" Bill yelled, shooting a curse at a particularly large follower. "They went down further! They reckoned they spotted her!"

"Right!" Harry yelled back. Leaving the four Weasley brothers to fight the remaining followers, him, Ron and Hermione rushed over to the staircase and flew down to the next floor.

It was more chaotic down here then it had been upstairs, if that was even possible. The few workers who had not fled were battling with Claridina's followers, and he spotted more Order members fighting as well.

And then he spotted her. A good distance from any of the fighting, Claridina stood, her wand out and pointed to something in the corner.

"Harry!" Mr. Weasley called, blocking a curse that was sent his way just in time. "Get to her! We'll hold them off!"

Wasting no time, Harry ran through the fighting, dodging spells and fighters, towards Claridina.

"Avada Kedavra!" he screamed the second that he was close enough to get a good enough aim.

Claridina, her reflexes clearly working to their peak, quickly moved out of the way. Harry expected her to begin to duel, but instead, she turned her attention back to the corner where her wand was pointed; Harry still wasn't close enough to see what she was pointing to.

"Avad-" Harry started again, but before he could finish, Claridina had uttered the same phrase, and a blinding flash of green light erupted from her wand towards the corner. Harry heard a scream. A familiar scream; one that made his breathing shaky as his brain registered who it belonged to.

Forgetting about Claridina, Harry rushed forward, finally able to see what she had been aiming at in the corner.

Slumped down against the wall, bloody and lifeless, was Kingsley Shacklebolt's body.


	15. Chapter 15

It was though everything went silent…as though his body was growing numb.

Kingsley was dead. Claridina had murdered him.

It was Claridina's cruel laugh echoing throughout the entire corridor that brought Harry back to his senses.

"Crucio!" Harry yelled, pointing his wand at her.

He wanted her to suffer. He wanted her to feel pain beyond pain.

The curse hit Claridina, and she fell to her knees. Harry looked for the contorted face of pure agony that he knew accompanied the Cruciatous Curse, but her saw instead her cold laugh still etched upon her face.

"Avada Kedavra!" Harry shouted. The spell went towards Claridina, but Claridina stepped out of the way just in time.

"He's gone, Potter!" she jeered. "He's dead; I killed him!" And before Harry could send another curse her way, she was gone. She disapperated in a cloud of fire. At once, all her followers fighting members of the Order behind Harry, followed suit and disapperated as well.

Harry didn't even give himself a moment to worry about Claridina getting away. Right now all he had on his mind was Kingsley.

He shakily approached Kingsley's body. His dark eyes were wide and blankly staring. Harry could tell that Kingsley had put up a fight before he was killed, for he had blood pooling from several parts of his body.

"Harry, what're you doing?" Ron asked. He could not yet see the body in the corner.

"There were too many of her followers," Hermione said, also walking over towards Harry. "We couldn't get through to help you with her. Did she-Oh."

They had finally caught sight of Kingsley's body.

"No," Ron whispered. "He's not-He can't be-Did she-"

"Yes," Harry nodded, not taking his eyes off of Kingsley.

He heard Hermione let out a soft sob.

"What's going on here, you lot?" Mr. Weasely asked, jogging over to the trio. "Have you any idea what just happened? Why did she just leave with everyone like that?"

"Kingsley's dead," Ron mumbled, putting his arm around Hermione.

Mr. Weasley took a step back. "You're not serious."

"She murdered him," Harry said, slowly getting to his feet.

"We've got about fifteen bodies of her followers upstairs," George said as him and his brothers came down, walking towards Harry and the others. "Probably would've gotten more if they all didn't disapperate out of nowhere."

"She did enough here," Hermione whispered. "She knew she won this; that's why she left."

"Won?" Bill frowned. "What do you mean-" he took a step forward and saw Kingsley. "Bloody hell."

Percy and Charlie were speechless. George turned away.

"It's gone," Harry said after several moments of silence. "She took it."

"Took what?" Hermione asked.

"His wand," Harry replied, still looking all around, hoping to see it.

"Why would she want that?" Percy asked.

"She has wands from all sorts of witches and wizards," Ron told him gruffly. "She's already gone and used wands from Bertha Jorkins and Sirius. We don't know why."

"We should bring his body back to the Order," Arthur said softly.

"I should go warn mum first," George said. "Make sure the kids aren't around….they don't need to see this."

"Yes, of course," Arthur nodded. "Go on then."

"I thought she was after me," Harry mumbled. "Why didn't she kill me?"

"She's a monster, Harry," Hermione told him. "She'd kill whoever was in front of her. And-And she must've known…"

"Known what?" Harry asked.

"Sh-She must've known you'd react to his death like this," she finished tearfully. "She knows that you're not like her, and would feel for Kingsley's death."

"She's right," Ron nodded. "This is her way of torturing you just a little longer."

Harry didn't respond.

"Come on," Bill said in a strained voice. "We need to bring him back now."

Harry and Ron worked to heave Kingsley's large stature up. They apperated together back to Grimmauld Place. Ginny, Teddy and George were waiting in the kitchen.

"Mum said to take him into Sirius's old room," Ginny said shakily, not looking at the body. "She-she'll begin the funeral preparations tonight."

"We'll get him," Charlie said, him and Bill gently taking Kingsley from Ron and Harry.

"I can't believe this," Ginny said, hurrying over to Harry and burying her head in his shoulders.

"He didn't deserve this," George sighed.

"Nobody does," Arthur said deeply.

Harry was silent, absentmindedly playing with the ends of Ginny's hair. Ron and Hermione's words were still echoing through his head.

_She knew you would feel for Kingsley's death._

_This is her way of torturing you just a little longer_.

Claridina knew his weakness. Voldemort had known it too.

He wondered just how far Claridina would be able to use it against him.

….

"Do you think something's wrong?" James asked.

"Must be," Fred nodded. "Otherwise grandmum wouldn't have rushed us up here."

"Plus, didn't you notice that everybody rushed out of here about twenty minutes ago?" Rose pointed out. "Only Aunt Ginny, Teddy and gran stayed behind."

"Well then where did they go?" Louis asked.

"If we knew that, would be sitting up here wondering that?" James snapped.

"Try opening to the door a crack," Lily suggested. "Maybe you can hear something from downstairs."

"Good thinking," James nodded. He turned the doorknob. "What the-? I don't believe this! They've gone and locked us in!"

"You're kidding," Albus said, walking over to try the doorknob for himself. "You're right! What's going on!"

"It must be something serious then," Hugo said.

"You don't think someone's hurt, do you?" Rose asked.

"Hang on," Lily said, pressing her ear to the door. "I think I hear footsteps." She got down onto her stomach and stared through the gap between the door and the floor.

"Smart thinking," Fred said. "Can you tell who it is?"

"I think it's Uncle Bill," she replied. "And Uncle Charlie…they're walking funny though."

"Like with a limp?" Louis asked.

"Not exactly…it's like they're carrying something heavy."

She sat back up. "Maybe they found something important; that's why everyone rushed out."

"What could be so important that we couldn't see though?" James frowned.

"Well it's not like we've been told anything since we've started coming to this place," Fred muttered. "Can't say I'm too surprised they don't want us to see whatever it is."

Just then the door opened and Ginny stepped in.

"Mum, what's going on? Why did grandmum-" James began, but then he was tears in his mother's eyes and he stopped.

"Come on, you lot," she said gently. "You need to come downstairs."


	16. Chapter 16

Draco watched the flames of the fireplace dance among the logs. The house was quiet now. It was always quiet, but there was a…presence when Claridina was around that made the air seem thicker and always gave him the feeling of fear and anticipation. He knew she was gone now, but that feeling still was not completely gone.

Claridina had not spoken to him since the disaster at Slughorn's, and he could not figure out whether that was a good thing or a bad one. He had expected to at least have to undergo several sessions of her torture for the blunder, but this total lack of communication from her was perhaps even more frightening. She must have some resentment towards him, though, for he was not called upon to fight in the attack on the underground ministry.

Then he felt it; the burning hot feeling in the mark on his forearm that Claridina had branded on to him. She was back, and she wanted him.

Draco slowly got to his feet and walked to the large room where Claridina always held these little…sessions.

It was the usual crowd, he saw. Claridina and Eppilep, as well as the rest of her inner-circle followers, the ones who had worked with her to put in motion her massive attack at the beginning of last summer.

"Draco," Claridina said as he walked into the room. She was smiling widely and her eyes were dancing in pure delight, which made Draco's stomach churn. "So sorry you missed the excitement."

"You saw it necessary, My Lady," he said reflexively, taking his seat next to Eppilep. "I-I suspect everything went according to your plans?"

"Oh, they went better," she said softly, her cold smirk still etched upon her face. "I killed him."

Draco's blood ran cold. Did she mean Harry? He _was_ the one she had most likely been after.

"P-Potter?" Draco asked, trying to keep the fear off of his face.

"No, Draco," she answered. "I admit, that was the plan, to try and kill Potter while he fought to save that pathetic excuse for a ministry, but then I had a…stroke of genius."

"Potter's still alive then?"

"For now, yes," Claridina nodded.

"But then who was it that you killed, My Lady?" Draco asked.

She gave a small chuckled. "Their minister."

The other followers laughed along with her.

Draco blinked. "Shacklebolt?"

"Oh he tried to be brave," she said in a voice that one would use to reminisce a fond memory. "Told me to kill him, that there would still be those who worked to oppose me, that I would never win. But I saw the fear in his eyes…the same fear that every person an inch from death gets. And then Potter's face when he saw the body…"

Draco felt sick.

"But My Lady," a woman sitting across from him spoke up. "Forgive me for asking, but why did you decide to kill Shacklebolt instead of Potter?"

"Exactly what I have brought you all here be explained," Claridina said. "My lesser followers, they wouldn't understand, nor do they need to. They're simple minded and their sole purpose is to blindly carry out my demands. You…you are my most loyal, and dedicated followers. You will get the privilege of knowing my reasoning."

The other followers exchanged pleased glances with one another. Draco stared right at Claridina, though.

"Potter is skilled in dueling," she said. "I've said it before, there's no point denying it. However, there is one difference between him and I that gives me an advantage: Potter has a tendency to feel responsible for each and every death on his side that comes from fighting for him. The guilt eats away at him; it's his weakness. Potter will have known that I was looking for him to kill today, and he will believe that the minister simply got in my way while I was searching for him. He will not forgive himself. He will begin to worry more and more about the members of his precious Order, most of his family is in it, and he will begin to try to fight me…alone. Potter's Order was designed to stop me, but I will manipulate it to destroy him. Alone, Potter is but one wizard. A gifted one, yes, but I am also a gifted witch. Potter will want to fight me alone, and when he does, I will be able to kill him."

…..

Harry pulled off the black dress robes that he had been wearing over his regular clothes and flung them over one of the kitchen chairs. Everyone had just arrived back at Grimmauld Place from Kingsley's funeral. It had been small, only the Order members and a handful of others had shown up; ever since Claridina had begun her slander on the Harry and Kingsley, the underground Ministry, and of course, its Minister of Magic, had become immensely less popular with the public.

Mrs. Weasley had put a kettle of water on the stove, mumbling something about tea. Ginny and Hermione sat down at the table, going through the small pile of owl mail that had been left on the table this morning before they had headed out.

"You alright, mate?" Ron asked.

Harry nodded, taking a seat next to Ginny. He had thought, hoped, that once they had laid Kingsley to rest in his grave, he would feel at least a bit better. But the defeating feeling of guilt and sorrow still hung over him.

"Unbelievable," Hermione sighed, leafing through a copy of the_ Daily Prophet._ "There's not even a mention of Kingsley's death in here."

"You're kidding," Ron said.

"Just some rubbish about that Eppilep figure's progress as Minister of Magic," she said, disgusted. "I was sure that Claridina would've wanted to parade around the fact that she killed Kingsley, especially seeing as she painted him out to be so close to Harry."

"She doesn't want to glorify him," Ginny spoke up, taking the paper from Hermione and leafing through it herself. "If she goes and makes a huge deal about his death, that'll give Kingsley the opportunity to look like a hero to some of those people she might not have totally convinced that she's the good guy here. She gave him this," she laid the paper flat on the table so that they could all see. "Last row of the obituaries. Kingsley Shacklebolt, 49, died from fatal spell work."

"Doesn't even mention that's he's murdered," Ron mumbled.

There was a knock at the door.

"I'll get it," Harry said, getting up from his chair. He headed to the front door and opened it.

"Hello, Harry," Luna said.

"When'd you get back from India?" Harry asked, letting her into the house.

"Just about twenty minutes ago," she replied. "We were hoping to make the funeral."

"You just missed it."

"Yes, but Rolf and the twins and I stopped by his grave a few minutes ago," she told him. "We left him some Colchy Weed. It wards off grave robbers and keeps him from turning over in the ground."

"Er, I'm sure he would've appreciated that," Harry nodded, leading her into the kitchen. "You want some tea?"

"No thank you," she said politely.

When they entered the kitchen, Ginny looked up from the paper. "Luna? I thought you were coming home from India until next week?"

"The inn we were all staying in was infested with nargles," Luna explained. "Plus I heard about Kingsley."

"She's really been busy since you left," Hermione told her. "How was it up in India?"

"She doesn't have too much of a following in Asia, but everyone has heard of her," Luna said. "Rolf and I spread your word around as much as possible. The Indian Minister of Magic didn't want to get involved in European problems right now, but he seemed very scared. But a few of Rolf's old friends there seemed really interested. They told me that they were going to try and convince as many people as they could that they need to fight Claridina if they want to keep their country safe."

"That's a start for us," Harry said. "Thanks, Luna. We don't have any other way right now to communicate with foreign wizards besides doing it in person. Claridina controls the _Prophet_."

"Daddy said it was only a matter of time before the _Prophet _found another Dark wizard to support after Voldemort," Luna said.

"Yes well, unfortunately, people believe whatever the paper prints," Hermione said darkly.

"Well there's no other news source out there," Ron pointed out there.

"Yes there is," Ginny said slowly turning to Luna. "How's the _Quibbler _been doing?"


	17. Chapter 17

Dudley poured himself a cup of coffee, though not really paying attention as her performed his task. His thoughts were not on the coffee, but on his daughter. Ever since Harry had shown up at the house three weeks ago, telling him that Alexandra had been in contact with Claridina, he had an overwhelming feeling of guilt boiling in him. His fourteen-year old daughter, the person he loved more than anything in this world, who he was supposed to keep safe, was being tormented by her own mother and he hadn't done a thing to stop it. Alexandra hadn't even come to him first with the news, she had turned to Harry because she knew that Harry could help her more.

There had to be something he could do. He hated this feeling of uselessness and weakness, but he couldn't do magic; there was no way of getting around that. Still, though, Alexandra was his daughter, and it was his job to do whatever he could to protect her.

He knew it was very early (the sun had barely begun to come up), but he picked up the phone anyway.

"Hello, Harry?" he said when his cousin picked up on the fourth ring. "I need to ask you something."

…

"Well, here it is," Ginny said, coming into the kitchen of Grimmauld Place, where Ron and Harry were sitting at the table, huddled over an old map of Europe, discussing possible locations where Claridina might be. "Luna, Hermione and I just finished the first draft."

"You're not going to use your real names on the article, are you?" Ron frowned.

"Of course we're not," Hermione assured him, sitting down next to her husband.

"The _Quibbler_'s happy to print anonymous articles," Luna said.

"Can we see the article then?" Harry asked.

Ginny handed him a long piece of parchment.

"_Ms. Claridina Wretermoust's Quest for a Dark Takeover: A Continuation of Where Lord Voldemort Left Off,_" he read.

"Ginny came up with that," Hermione said. "Go on, keep reading."

"_It's undeniable that the recent Dark witch who has recently taken power, Claridina Wretermoust, has built herself a menacing reputation. However, it seems impossible not to draw certain parallels to the former 'Most Feared Wizard' of Europe, Tom Riddle, better known as Lord Voldemort. For years he terrorized the magical world, spreading his heinous messages of Pure Blood dominance and muggle extermination. He created such a fearful regime that few dared speak his name. His thirst for power was so extreme that he even sought to master death. Now, twenty years after Lord Voldemort met defeat at the wand of Harry Potter, a new face has come from the shadows. Claridina, though she seems to lack any one message, she still possesses the same tyranny, desperate desire for power and will have no problem killing and destroying anybody and anything that stands in her way to get it. She's also using one the same exact tactics Voldemort used in his final years to gain more following; she's been diluting the public minds. Spreading lies that she has only the best intentions for the masses, Claridina's been able to have free roam in the wizarding world. But one look around the world she has created will tell a different story. Mysterious deaths, a corrupted Ministry of Magic and brainwashing are only the beginnings, and twenty years ago, they were some of Voldemort's best weapons, and if Claridina goes on unopposed and blindly supported, we will all soon find ourselves reliving the days of his rule."_

"What do you think?" Ginny asked.

"It's…brilliant," Harry said.

"We're hoping that by comparing her to Voldemort," Hermione said. "People really _will_ start to see that she's just as Dark as he was and remember the fear they felt for him and hopefully rethink what they've been believing about Claridina."

"It could work," Ron nodded. "But, er…how many people read the _Quibbler_?"

"We have several loyal readers," Luna said.

Ron continued to look unsure.

"I've called in some favors as well," Ginny said. "A couple of sponsors of Quidditch teams that I've met agreed to help promote and distribute the magazine to hopefully get even more people to see the article."

"You remember that interview you gave to the _Quibbler_ back in our fifth year, don't you?" Hermione asked Harry. "About how Voldemort rose again? You got quite a bit of support with it, even with that awful Umbridge and the rest of the Ministry trying to do everything to keep it quiet. I think if the story's strong enough, people will find it and read it, even if it's not in exactly the most…widely read magazine."

"I think it can be published in about a week," Luna said. "I've just been waiting on a piece about Pyrotytanthros. I think it would be good to have those two pieces published side by side, considering that Claridina _is _a Pyrotytanthoro."

"A what?" Ron, Harry and Ginny asked together.

"They're thought to be human fire demons," Hermione said in a tone that told them that she was clearly trying to refrain from rolling her eyes. "But they've never been seen, and there's absolutely no proof that they exist at all."

"How else can you explain the dying out of the Peruvian Puffer Fish?" Luna retorted. "They're the only enemy of the Pyrotytanthros, so of course the Pyrotytanthros have been getting rid of them."

Fortunately, at that moment George and Charlie walked into the kitchen, ending the discussion.

"Well, they've gone and turned my shop in Diagon Alley into a Quill Emporium," George said brightly.

"Why are you so happy about that?" Ron asked.

"About fifty long-time customers used Detonators to tear the place up," Charlie explained.

"From what I've heard, the bloke running the shop still hasn't managed to get a few rather sharp quills pulled out of his-well, I won't bring up the graphic details," George said. "Anyway, Hogwarts letters arrived this morning. You lot got yours yet?"

"Neither of us have been to our homes all day," Ginny told him.

"A couple of breeders at the dragon ranch are seriously considering not sending their kids this year," Charlie said. "Of course, they're the ones who know what Claridina really is."

"Yeah, Angelina and I were talking about whether we were going to send Fred or not," George nodded.

"Are you?" Ginny asked.

"Yeah," he replied. "We decided that with all of the teachers, plus the Order's protection, Hogwarts is safer than any other place. Besides, they've got to learn to defend themselves. What about you guys?"

"I-we really haven't talked about it," Hermione said, looking at Ron.

"Neither have we," Ginny said.

"Ah, well, you've still got two weeks before the term starts," he shrugged.

Ginny and Harry exchanged silent glances. Harry knew telling James and Albus that they wouldn't be returning to Hogwarts would be tough, and to tell Lily that there could be a chance that she might not get to go next year either wouldn't be a pleasant task. But both him and Ginny knew that they were going to have to do what was best for their children.

…..

It was nearly four in the morning. Harry had been drifting in and out of sleep all night. When him and his children had arrived home from Grimmauld Place that evening, two Hogwarts letters had been waiting for them. James and Albus had grabbed their own letters right away, eagerly looking to see whether or not they were going to need any new supplies for the year while talking excitedly about their return to the school. Lily, of course, had asked Harry to write to McGonagall to see if she could possibly start the school just one year early all throughout supper. Harry and Ginny didn't make any mention to the three about the possibility that there might just be no return to Hogwarts for them, and by the time they had gone to their bed that night, the subject still had not come out.

"Are you awake?" Harry heard his wife whisper from next to him.

"Yeah, can't sleep," Harry mumbled back, sitting up.

"Neither can I," Ginny said, turning on the lamp on her bedside table. "So seeing as we're both probably not going to get anymore sleep before morning, we might as well do this now."

"Do what?" Harry asked, though knowing the answer.

"What do you want to do about Hogwarts?" Ginny asked him.

Harry sighed. "I don't know."

"That's not exactly helpful," Ginny chuckled.

"It's just," he started. "I know Hogwarts is loads safer than any other place right now and that the teachers there will do whatever they can to make sure that the students are safe. The Order's going to go down there in a week to put all of the protective charms on the castle and there will be guards around the clock, but…"

"It somehow doesn't feel like enough," she nodded knowingly.

"Look, Claridina wants Hogwarts," Harry said. "And she's not going to stop trying to get it. If she gets through the protection and the guards and the teachers…then that school's in the palm of her hand, and you know that the first students to go will be James and Albus and all of their cousins."

"I know that, Harry, and it scares me to think about," Ginny said. "But then I think about what George said, about the kids needing to learn to defend themselves. Hogwarts is the only place where they could learn to do that."

"Yes, but-" Harry started, but then he heard a cough from Lily's room right next to them. Ginny gave him a look; they both knew that Lily was a very light sleeper.

"I fancy a cup of tea," Ginny said softly, getting up out of bed and putting on her dressing gown.

Harry followed her down to the kitchen where she flicked her wand at the kettle on the stove.

"They need to learn defense," Harry said after a moment. "But will that really be worth sending our kids if Claridina winds up attacking the castle again? If Draco hadn't tipped us off about her attack last year, the Aurors would've never gotten to the school in time and who knows what would've happened."

"There's going to be guards all around the school this time, though," Ginny said gently. "The Order. It will be Bill and Ron and even you. If you see anything around the school that could possibly be the work of Claridina, you'll alert everyone."

"That's true," Harry said thoughtfully. "Plus, if Claridina wants to try an maintain her hero act, murdering children, even mine, will definitely ruin that image for her."

"Right," Ginny nodded. "And-"

Just then the telephone began to ring.

"Who could that be at four in the morning?" Ginny frowned.

"Don't know," Harry said. "Can't be any of your brothers, seeing as none of them know how to use the phone." He walked over to the receiver and picked up the phone.

"Hello?"

"Hello, Harry? I need to ask you something?"

"Dudley?"

"Yes, er, I'm sorry to call you so early. I must've woken you up."

"No, no, I was awake," Harry said. "What do you need to ask me?"

He heard Dudley take a deep breath on the other line. "I want to join the Order."


	18. Chapter 18

"Join the Order?" Harry repeated.

"Yes," Dudley said on the other line. "You said it was working to stop Claridina, right?"

"Well, yes," Harry said. "But…you want to join it?"

"Yes," he said again. "I want to help."

"Right. But, Dudley, I-well, I don't know…"

"Look, I know I'm not magic," Dudley said. "But there's got to be something I can do to help."

Harry blinked. "Dudley…I-it's great that you want to help us. Believe me, we need all the support we can get, but right now, the Order-"

"Please, Harry, I've got to help somehow," Dudley said desperately.

Harry frowned. Of course; he should've realized that sooner or later Dudley would be having this conversation with him. Claridina was Alexandra's mother, and for some reason, she seemed keen on contacting her, and she had done so right under Dudley's nose. It was only natural that he would want to have some role in catching this woman.

"That woman who used to live next door to us growing up," Dudley said. "She couldn't do magic, could she? But she was still working to help you back then, wasn't she? I could-"

"Okay," Harry said finally. "You can stop by today and we'll see what the rest of the Order thinks."

"Thank you," Dudley said sincerely. "Is it at your house?"

"No," Harry told him. "Meet me at the corner of Caper Street and Pygman at two this afternoon. I'll be waiting for you there."

"Alright. I'll see you then."

"What did he want?" Ginny asked as he hung up the phone.

"He wants to join the Order."

"What? You're joking."

"Nope."

"I suppose it does make sense," she sighed. "He _does_ have a history with Claridina."

"Yeah…he does," Harry said thoughtfully. "Maybe we can use that. Think about it; he was married to her. She had to have let something slip during all those years. Maybe she said something, something that at the time Dudley thought irrelevant, but now…"

"So you'll let him join then?"

"I have to see how everyone else feels about it first," Harry told her. "I can't just let him join without having the majority agree on it first."

"You're right," she nodded. She looked at the clock above the stove. "Listen, it's going to be sunrise soon. You know the kids are going to want to go to Diagon Alley soon to get their supplies. We still have to make the decision on whether we're going to send them or not."

That conversation had almost been pushed from his head after his phone call with Dudley.

"I want them to go," Harry said. "For them. But at the same time…I want to protect them."

Ginny nodded. "Honestly, Harry, I don't think you're going to be able to protect them any more if they're here than if they are at school."

Harry knew she was right, but that didn't stop the words from stinging.

"We should send them," he said after a moment. "What do you think?"

"I think it's what's best for them," she nodded.

Harry stared out the kitchen window at the dark night that lay outside the house's walls. Somewhere out there, Claridina was plotting. Plotting to get her hands on the very place that in just a couple of weeks, most of his family would be.

"She won't get to the school," Harry said softly. "I'm going to make sure of that."

….

"Not to sound prejudiced or anything," Ron said. "But how can a muggle be of any help in the Order?"

"Yeah, he couldn't do a thing in a duel," George agreed. "And lets face it; being in a group dedicated to taking down Claridina will require you to have at least a basic knowledge of _some_ defensive spells."

"He doesn't have to fight," Harry explained.

"Yes, but Harry," Hermione said. "If anyone finds out he's involved with us…he'd be much easier to extract information from than anybody else. I understand why he wants to join; I'm sure if any of us were in his position we'd want the same thing. But we have to think about the entire Order."

"Well what if we don't tell him everything?" Teddy asked. "Just certain things? He doesn't have to know what sort of attacks we're working on or if we're following any of her followers."

"That's true," Bill agreed.

"Well, yes, I suppose we could do that," Hermione said. "And actually, he could be helpful."

"Exactly," Harry nodded. "I've told you, he may know things about Claridina that no one else knows."

"Yes, but that's not the only thing. Dudley could help us protect the muggle world. He could help spread the word that Claridina's dangerous to them."

"Brilliant idea, Hermione," Arthur beamed. "From what I've found, muggles will more readily believe information coming from someone who they seem more familiar with!"

"We should vote then," Ginny said. "All in favor of letting Dudley join the Order?"

Every hand went up.

"Good, it's decided then," Harry said. He looked at his watch. "Alright, he should be out on the street by now. I'll go fetch him."

…..

Alexandra nervously glanced around the street where her father had driven them. She didn't want to be here. When her father had come to her that morning and told her that he had asked Harry if he could join the Order, she felt her insides clench up and her blood ran cold. She knew her father expected her to be happy. He had explained that if he joined, he'd be helping fight Claridina, but she knew that if her father was in the Order, than she'd learn new information…information that she'd soon have to convey to her mother.

"Where is this place?" she asked her father, her mouth bone dry.

"I'm not sure," Dudley replied. "Harry said to meet him here…ah, there he is."

Alexandra spotted Harry walking over to them from across the street.

"Hello," Dudley said when Harry reached. "Where is this place anyway? Is the rest of the Order already-"

"Don't talk about it here," Harry mumbled to him. "Follow me."

Dudley and Alexandra followed Harry along the pavement until he stopped in front of a line of buildings. One of them was labeled number eleven and the other thirteen.

"Here, read this to yourselves," Harry said, handing them each a slip of parchment.

Alexandra glanced down and saw the sentence, _The Order of the Phoenix Headquarters is located at Number 12 Grimmauld Place._

As Alexandra read the sentence, the numbers eleven and thirteen suddenly seemed to shift, though she got the suspicion that nobody else around her was noticing, until another door appeared with a twelve upon it.

"Come on," Harry said, taking the parchment back from both of them. "Quickly, please."

When Alexandra entered the house, she was reminded of a place that hadn't been inhabited in many years. The furniture looked old and worn and there was a musty scent in the air.

"Alexandra, Mrs. Weasley will take you up with the others," Harry said as Fred's grandmother appeared around the corner, smiling kindly at her.

"I-I can't go into the Order?" she asked.

"I'm afraid it's not for children," Mrs. Weasley said gently. "But I'm sure the others will be happy to see you."

"It's for safety," Harry told her.

"Go ahead with her, Alexandra," Dudley said. "I'll see you in a bit."

Harry led Dudley further into the house, and Alexandra watched her father disappear, feeling an awful pang in the pit of her stomach.

…..

Harry led Dudley into the room where the members of the Order always held their meetings.

"Everyone's agreed to let you join," Harry told him.

"That's-that's great," Dudley said. "Thank you. What can I do to help?"

"Well," Harry said, opening the door to the room and letting Dudley in. "We have some questions to ask you."

Dudley, now looking slightly nervous, took a seat next to Ron. "Okay."

"You lived for Claridina for years," Harry said. "While you were married to her. You must know things about her that none of could ever imagine."

Dudley's face fell. "Everything about that marriage was a lie. I didn't even know she was a witch."

"I don't think she would've lied to you about everything," Hermione spoke up. "Obviously, yes, she didn't tell you the truth about her identity, but other things, smaller details…those she might not have thought to lie about to you. You were no threat to her then."

"Exactly," Harry nodded. "I know it might be hard for you to remember after all these years, but think; did Claridina ever say anything about…working on a project?"

"Not a project specifically," Dudley said. "She always was going on about work. She-she told me she was head of her company; that's why she was never around…I never even asked her for the name of the place."

"She didn't do any of her work in the house, did she?" Hermione asked.

"Well, no, not really," Dudley said. "Once Alexandra was born, she said she couldn't concentrate on her work with a baby in the house. That's-that's the reason she told us she left; she wanted to focus on her career, not a family. She left when Alexandra was three."

"That'd be around the time we arrested her," Ron mumbled.

"Well where did she go when she would work?" Harry asked. "Did she say she was going into her office?"

"No, actually," Dudley said thoughtfully. "She would go to this place she said her father left her. It was this cabin in the woods."

"What woods? Were they near London?" Harry asked.

"No. As a matter of fact, the place wasn't in England, she said," Dudley told him. "It was in Hungary. She would fly down there for weeks at a time. She would call from time to time, but other than that, we wouldn't have any contact while she was there."

"Hungary?" Harry repeated.  
"Yeah. I talked about maybe bringing Alexandra up there one time so we could all have a holiday together, but she would always refuse. She said the woods would frighten Alexandra."

Harry looked at Hermione. "Draco told me that the hideout she's in now is surrounded by the woods."

"But I thought that the hideout was in Gringotts," Ron frowned.

"She could've had more than one," Hermione said. "It makes sense. She destroyed Gringotts in her first attack. Plus, she blew its secrecy during that attack as well. Of course she'd need a new place."

"Do you know where in Hungary?" Harry asked Dudley urgently.

"Some village where she said her father grew up," Dudley said. "Nurtkta or something like that."

Harry jumped up out of his seat. So did Ron and Hermione.

"I think," Harry said softly to Dudley. "You might have just told us her location."

…

**AN- Everyone should check out Hailstorm234's newest addition to his collection of works involving Claridina's prospective of happenings throughout this series. This one actually focuses on Rolwat's perspective. Here's the link: ** : / / w w w . s / / 3 / e


	19. Chapter 19

"You really think Claridina's hideout is in this village?" Ron frowned as Hermione quietly muttered, "Accio atlas."

"There's a good chance that she is," Harry nodded. "And if we can get in there and catch her completely off guard-"

"There'll be protective spells, though, won't there?" Ginny pointed out.

"Oh, loads of them, no doubt," Bill nodded.

"We can figure out how to get through those," Harry said quickly. "We've got to go there right away. I think about half a dozen of us would be good." He turned to Dudley. "What was the name of the village again?"

"Er, I-I think it was Nurtkta," Dudley said, looking slightly stunned. "I-I'm not positive. It was years ago."

"Here, I think this might be it," Hermione said, flipping through the atlas that had zoomed into the room seconds earlier. "Nutuptkia. It's just south of Csepel. According to this, it's mostly made up of several large woods. Not that many people live there."

"In other words, the perfect place for a hideout," Harry said. "We need to get going now."

"We-we're going to go now?" Hermione asked.

"This could be our chance, Hermione!" Harry exclaimed. "She'd be unprepared for us right now!"

"But Harry, it's like Bill said," Ron said. "It's not like you can just stroll into Nutuptkia and come across Claridina. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for getting her. It's just…maybe we should put a little more planning into this."

"Hermione's been rubbing off on you," George muttered.

"He has a point," Ginny said.

"Well then we've got to at lease see if we can find the place," Harry said urgently. "And then…then we can work on breaking any protections she's got around the place."

"That sounds like it'll work," Teddy spoke up.

"Yes, that-that does," Hermione nodded.

"Good, so we'll leave now then," Harry said firmly. "Unless anybody's got any reason why we shouldn't." He looked at Hermione, but she remained silent.

"Right then," Harry said. He turned to Dudley. "Dudley, you've been extremely helpful, giving us all this information. But I'm sorry, you can't come out with the Order on missions like this. You wouldn't be able to defend yourself without magic."

"I'm not arguing with you there," Dudley said.

"Hermione, Ron? You're both able to come?" Harry asked.

"Course mate," Ron nodded.

"Ginny? George?"

"I'm in," George said at once.

"So am I," Ginny nodded.

"Alright then, Teddy, if you come that'll make six," Harry said. "I don't think we'd need anymore if we're just going to try and locate the place. If we need backup, we'll send word."

"We'll be waiting here," Arthur said.

"Let's go then," Harry said. "I'm not sure how long it will take us to find this place."

"It will really depend on the amount of security," Hermione told him as everyone got to his or her feet. "And I'd say we should be counting on a lot."

"We will be able to break through it though, right?" Harry muttered to her.

"With a fair amount of work, I'd say we'd probably be able to make a dent in it," Hermione said. "She's gotten through our protection before, though," Ron said, walking beside Hermione.

Harry nodded. "But that just means she'll know what to expect."

….

"Harry, how are we going to find this place?" Teddy asked as the six arrived in Nutuptkia.

"Even if the place is protected," Harry said, stuffing the worn tennis ball they had used as a Portkey into his pocket. "There will be signs that there's a magical dwelling."

"Well, there's woods all around us," Ginny said, looking around. "We might as well head north and see what we find."

"Everyone have their wands out," Harry instructed. "You can count on Claridina having a few surprises for us even before we get to the hideout."

The six progressed through the woods silently, wands held out at the ready. For nearly an hour, they walked through the woods without running into anything, or finding any trace of human presence, for that matter.

"Maybe we should head east or west then?" George said. "It doesn't seem like anybody's been here for-"

"Yeah, let's go back," Ron, who was a few steps ahead of the others, said suddenly. "I think I forgot my wand."

"It's in your hand," Hermione frowned.

"I forgot, I was supposed to meet with McGonagall today," Ron continued. "We all need to head back."

"No one has any meeting with McGonagall, Ron," Harry said. "What are you-?"

"He's right, we need to head back," Teddy said, stepping next to Ron. "Gran needed me to help her clean out her attic."

"What are you two talking about?" George asked, looking at the others in confusion.

Hermione gasped in sudden understanding. "Of course! Harry, I think we're near the hideout! This is part of the protection!"

"What are you talking about?" Harry frowned.

"It's one of the protections the ministry used to use to keep muggles out of large events, like the Quidditch World Cup," she said quickly. "If a muggle got too close, they suddenly remembered important appointments and engagements and ran off in the other direction. I think she must've put the same protection around wherever her hideout is so that nobody would get to close to where it is."

"We can get around it though, right?"

"Yes, come back here, you two," she said to Ron and Teddy, pulling them back a few steps. She turned back to Harry. "You need to use a strong reverse barrier charm. That should be enough to break this; it's not a particularly powerful means of protection. I'm guessing this was just the first layer of many defenses."

"At least we know we're on the right track now," Ginny said. She glanced over at Ron and Teddy. "You two okay?"

"Yeah, just a little dizzy," Ron nodded.

"Just stay back for a minute," Harry told them. He pointed his wand straight ahead and said, "Demlishnio!"

The ground shook slightly. Harry glanced around at the others. "Right then, let's go on. Don't do anything to call attention to ourselves. Claridina could very well be right around the corner."

"How far past this point do you reckon she has this place?" George asked as everyone began walking forward.

"She'd be pretty dumb to make it right after that first protection," Ron pointed out.

"She might not have counted on anyone getting past that, though," Teddy said. "Any muggle from the village that stumbled upon it wouldn't have been able to do anything, and there was practically no chance that we would've ever thought to look here without Dudley's help."

Harry suddenly stopped in his tracks and held his arm out to tell the others to do the same.

"What is it?" Ginny asked.

"This is the woods," Harry said slowly. "There are trees everywhere…"

"Except," Hermione said softly, stepping beside him, staring at the same spot he was. "For right here."

The six stared at the area her and Harry had indicated. It was nearly two acres of emptiness surrounded by thousands of trees. It looked almost…unnatural.

"Is this it?" George asked.

Ginny bent down and picked up a small stone and tossed it gently at the empty area. Instead of landing to a rest, it was reflected off of an invisible wall.

"This is it then," Harry whispered. "We've found her."


	20. Chapter 20

Alexandra followed Mrs. Weasley up a long flight of steps, past many old portraits, one of which, for some reason, seemed to have a curtain covering it. Alexandra had pictured the headquarters for such an important organization to be a bit more...sophisticated.

"Here we are," Mrs. Weasley said kindly, stopping at one of the doors. "When everything is all taken care of downstairs, I'll come fetch you all and we can have a nice lunch."

"Thank you," Alexandra said politely.

Mrs. Weasley smiled at her before she hurried back down stairs. Alexandra watched her disappear, and then she slowly opened the door.

She saw Fred, James and Louis huddled around several gobstones, Rose was sitting on one of the beds, her nose in a book, and the rest of the kids were scattered about the room, either talking among themselves or looking around the room.

"Alexandra?" Fred frowned, noticing her arrival. "What are you doing here?"

"Your grandmum sent me up," she replied. "My dad's downstairs with the rest of your parents."

"Why?" James asked. "I thought they were all still in some meeting thing."

"Yes, that's why my dad's here," Alexandra nodded. "He's-he's joining with them."

"What?" Louis exclaimed. "But-But he's a muggle!"

Alexandra knew she couldn't tell them the truth, that her father was telling the Order information that he picked up during his marriage to Claridina, for that of course would reveal to them that the woman was in fact her mother. Thankfully, Rose spoke next.

"It would probably be very useful to have a muggle around," she said wisely, marking her page in her book. "We all know that Claridina targets muggles from time to time. Alexandra's father could help make sure the muggle authorities are notified and are on the look out for her."

"Er, yes, I believe that's what he's doing," Alexandra nodded, feeling very grateful towards Rose.

"Well maybe _your_ dad will actually tell you some things from the meetings," James said darkly. "Because our parents prefer to keep us out of everything."

"So you don't know what those meetings are about?" Alexandra asked.

"No," Fred said. "We've only just found out that they're for something called the Order of the Phoenix. It's this organization that's-"

"Working to take Claridina down, I know," she finished for him. "My dad told, er, told me all that before we came."

"They only told us that after Kingsley died," Albus spoke up. "Otherwise, we'd probably still be in the dark."

Alexandra blinked. "Kingsley's dead?"

"Yeah," Louis said heavily.

"Do-Do you know how?"

"Apparently, Claridina attacked the underground ministry," Fred explained. "Because she found out that Uncle Harry and the rest of the Order knew she had spies there, so there was nothing else holding her back. Then, well, she came across Kingsley..."

"At least that's what we managed to overhear," James said. "They forgot to put charms on their door right after it happened, so Lily managed to hear that. We send her down from time to time to try and eavesdrop. Dad's a lot less likely to scream at her."

Alexandra tried to keep her composure calm. "So-So that's why she attacked the ministry? Because-Because she found out that Harry knew about the spies?"

"Looks like it," Albus nodded. "She was going to attack eventually, but dad and the others were banking on having a bit more time."

Alexandra felt her knees buckle. "Is-Is there a bathroom here?"

"Right next door," Rose answered.

"I'll be right back," she mumbled, quickly rushing out of the room. She ran into the bathroom, locking the door behind her.

She turned on the faucet and splashed water onto her face. It was her fault. It was all her fault that Kingsley was dead. She had told Claridina that Harry and the others had known about her spies. She might as well had been right at her mother's side when that killing curse had been fired. And that was only from that little bit of information that she had shared. She was obliged to tell her anything else she found out, and being here in the Order's headquarters, she was sure it was only a matter of time before something slipped and she overheard something she wasn't supposed to. Who was going to be the next person to suffer from what she was bound to do? Fred's father? Rose's parents? Harry himself?

She turned off the faucet and stared at her reflection in the mirror. Her blood ran cold as she noticed for the first time, how strongly she truly resembled her mother.

...

"So it's right here," Ron said softly. "Right in front of us."

"There's fifteen protective spells here," Hermione said, giving her wand a flick. "And I'd bet she also used a Fidelius Charm, which is undetectable."

"Well then we'd have to find out who her Secret Keeper is," Teddy said.

"Maybe the bloke will leave the place soon," George suggested. "And then when he does, we can take him back to the headquarters and get him to reveal the location to us."

"Claridina wouldn't let her Secret Keeper out in the open without any protection," Harry said, looking around the seemingly empty area that housed Claridina's hideout.

"Her other protections would hold up even if the Secret Keeper told us the location," Hermione said. "We'd have to get through them first before we could even use him."

"How hard do you reckon they'll be to get through?" Ginny asked.

"Well we could use a dissolving charm to get through the first layer," she replied.

"But that will alert Claridina that we're here," Harry pointed out. "We need to make sure she's unaware of us until the very last minute."

"There's a way for us to use the charm so that the alarm won't be triggered," Hermione told him. "However, it'll take nearly a week to take effect."

"Well that's a start," Ron said. "What else can we do?"

"I say we do that," Ginny said. "And go back to the headquarters. Then we can make a new schedule of guards to keep watch out here, and see if they can spot any activity. If Claridina really believes this place is well hidden, she might let her guard down and come out one of these days."

"Good thinking," George nodded.

Harry nodded too. He turned to Hermione. "Put the dissolving charm on the first layer now. Then I'll stay back and watch the place while you lot go back to the headquarters and tell everybody what we found."

"You can't stay here alone," Ginny frowned. "I'll stay back too and-"

"Gin, it'll only be for a few hours, then you guys will send replacements for me," Harry assured his wife.

"He'll be fine," Ron told her.

"Send your patronus if anything happens," Hermione said. "I really _do _think you should have another one of us stay with you..."

"Relax, Hermione," Harry said. "Don't worry. I'll send word the second anything happens."

Reluctantly, the others walked away, apperating back to the headquarters. Ginny was the last to leave.

"Don't go doing anything stupid, okay?" she said.

"When have I ever?" Harry grinned.

Ginny laughed, and then after giving a quick kiss, apperated away with the others.

Harry waited a few seconds, and then stepped right up against the invisible barrier. He pulled his old Invisibility Cloak out of his pocket and threw it over himself and continued to walk around the protected area. He had no intentions of sitting around idly in the shadows, waiting for the others to come back. He was going to figure out a way to get to Claridina, alone. That way, if she got to anybody, he would be the only one in her path to get hurt.


	21. Chapter 21

Harry pointed his wand at the hidden hideout, trying to think of some spell that could help him, but none came to mind. He wondered if the charm Hermione had put in place before she left was working.

_There has to be one area of weakness in this protection, _Harry thought to himself. He continued to walk around, as though hoping to see just a glimpse of this hidden fortress. He had walked the perimeter three times, and was about to give up, when suddenly, he heard something. It sounded like horse hooves, but when Harry looked around the woods, he couldn't see any such animals. He heard the sound again, and this time realized that it wasn't coming from the woods around him, but from the protected area right in front of him.

Harry's heart jumped. It seemed as if he had found the weakness. He quickly got to his knees and strained his ears, eager to see if he could hear anything besides horse hooves. A sent of rotting flesh filled his nostrils. And Harry understood that the creatures making the noise must be none other than Claridina's Thestrals.

Torn between feeling pleased that he had found at least one way to get any indication that Claridina's hideout was indeed here and feeling disappointed that this glitch in her security hadn't given him more useful information, Harry got to his feet. Making a note of where this spot was so he could return to it later, he continued to walk around under his cloak.

He heard a faint buzzing sound in the distance, probably bugs from the forest, he guessed.

_Maybe if I can work with that one area, I can get more of the protections down, _Harry thought to himself, leaning against a nearby tree, wiping sweat from his brow. _Then I can get into the hideout without the others and catch Claridina off guard._

Harry felt a tickle in his throat, but he didn't dare cough; he didn't want to risk being detected.

Then, out of nowhere, he heard voices. He spun around and saw two men appear right where Claridina's protection ended.

They were his followers, he recognized them from her attack on the underground ministry. This was his chance. He could disarm them from underneath his cloak, bring them back to the Order and question them. Perhaps by some slim chance Claridina _had _decided to let the Secret Keeper out of her watch and he was one of these two men. That would be another layer of security down, and he'd be that much closer to reaching Claridina.

He rose his arm to send the spell at the two men, who were approaching him, but found his arm felt very heavy for some reason. He looked down and saw that his hand was shaking, and was covered in so much sweat he was very close to dropping his wand.

With much effort, he pointed his wand at the followers, but found that his vision had suddenly gone blurry. He tried to concentrate as he opened his mouth to whisper the spell, but he could not muster a voice.

His throat was still ticking him, and it took all of his willpower not to cough as he watched helplessly as the followers walked past him, his wand, now shaking in his hand more violently, pointing uselessly after them.

What had happened? Why couldn't he send a spell at them? His head was pounding in a way he hadn't felt in years, and his chest was filling with a burning sensation. Harry grabbed a tree branch, trying to steady himself as his knees began to buckle under him and his blurry vision began to fade into darkness. His wand fell from his hand, and before he could even think to himself how vulnerable he know was, his legs gave way and he collapsed onto the hard ground.

...

"It's been nearly twenty-four hours, shouldn't he be awake by now?"

"I don't know, but if he doesn't come to soon, I'd say we bring him over to St. Mungos."

"At least his breathing's more steady now."

Harry didn't know where he was, but all he knew was that he wanted more than anything for those voices around him to stop. His head hurt so badly it was as if he had been hit over the head repeatedly with a very large rock and his chest felt like it was on fire. Slowly, he opened his eyes and saw Ron, Bill and Teddy standing over his bed.

"Alright there, Harry?" Ron asked, handing Harry his glasses from his bedside table.

"What happened?" Harry asked, though his voice came out scratchy.

"You don't remember?" Teddy frowned.

"I was at Claridina's hideout," Harry said slowly, struggling to sit up. "Or, outside it, and-and-" everything was suddenly rushing back to him. "Two of her followers came out of the hideout, and I tried to stun them, but I couldn't."

"Well I reckon you couldn't do much of anything, the state you were in," Bill said.

"What happened?" Harry asked, wincing as his head continued to pound.

"We don't know, exactly," Ron said slowly. "We thought you might've been cursed or something. George and Hermione apperated back to the hideout to take your place, but they couldn't find you, since you were under your cloak and all. Hermione said the only reason they finally got you was because George tripped over you."

"Nearly broke my neck, too," George said, walking into the room. "Good to see you up. It's been hell trying to keep mum from sitting at your bedside around the clock. Speaking of which, her and Ginny will probably be up any minute."

"I don't think I was cursed," Harry told Ron. "I didn't see anybody around. And it didn't feel like any curse I'd ever heard of."

"But Claridina has all sorts of curse she's invented, doesn't she?" Teddy pointed out. "Maybe she-"

Suddenly, the door flew open and Mrs. Weasley came in.

"He's up?" she exclaimed, hurrying to Harry's side at once. "And no one thought to tell me? How are you feeling, Harry dear? You'll be needing more pillows, and a good meal. I'll have you know," she said, turning to her sons. "That Ginny and I have been pacing downstairs in the kitchen for hours, wondering whether or not he was going to be okay, and none of you had the decent courtesy to tell us?"

"I just woke up, Molly," Harry said quickly. "Where's Ginny?"

"I made her eat something before I came up here," she replied, fluffing his pillows. "She's been so worried over you, everyone has."

"Harry?"

Harry looked over at the doorway and saw Ginny standing there.

"Hey," Harry smiled.

"The one thing I told you to do," she said, walking over to his bed. "Was not do anything stupid."

"Like he's ever done anything but that," Ron said, rolling his eyes.

"You're very stressful to be married to, you know that?" Ginny said, wrapping her arms around him. "Now _what _happened to you? Did someone curse you? Were you dueling with someone?"

"I don't remember anything," Harry said.

"What if Claridina saw you through her protection?" Ron suggested.

"He was wearing his Invisibility Cloak," Bill reminded him.

"I think he was poisoned."

Everyone turned to the door where Victoire was now standing. Harry noticed Teddy suddenly becoming very interested with the table lamp at his bedside.

"Poisoned?" Ginny replied. "But how? He didn't drink anything, right?"

"Right," Harry nodded.

"I think it was a mist potion called Wraksnare," Victoire continued. "I looked up Uncle Harry's symptoms and compared them to some of the worst poisons. It's a more diluted form of the Athrimo potion. It's simpler to make, but when it's inhaled, it doesn't kill as quickly, lucky for us. If we hadn't found him when we did, though, it would've been deadly."

"I began to feel off once I saw her two followers," Harry said. "I'll bet that that was part of her protection. When anybody leaves, that poisons emits in case anybody was waiting outside; she'll have given her followers the antidote, of course. Who's standing guard now?"

"Dad and Charlie," Bill replied. "I'll send word to them right now to put a bubble charm around their heads just in case anybody leaves the hideout."

"So did you find anything while you were there?" Ron asked. "None of saw anything particularly helpful while we were there."

Harry thought back to the small glitch in the protections that he had found. He was sure he could work with that and be able to gain access into Claridina's hideout relatively quickly. And then it would just be him and her.

"Nothing," Harry replied.

"It's going to take some time to get through all of that," Mrs. Weasley said. "Don't you worry about any of that now, though. I'll go bring you some soup and some medicine. You'll need to rest up for a few days."

"I'll go get the kids," Ginny said. "They've been worried sick about you."

"All right," Harry nodded.

"Hermione reckons she's found a way to get past another one of the protections," Ron said as the women left the room. "It takes even longer than the first one to get down, though."

"As long as Claridina doesn't fine out about this, we're good," Harry said. "We can't afford to get wind about this like she did about our spies." "How did she figure that out, anyway?" Ron frowned. "I've never understood that. I mean, I suppose she _could've_ just realized that the information they were giving her was useless, but that could've just meant we were having no luck finding her, not necessarily that we knew about the spies."

"The only way she could've known other than that was if someone had told her," Harry said. "And I trust everyone in the Order."

"So do I," Ron said quickly. "But...did anybody outside of the Order know about the spies?"

"Draco knew we knew," Harry said. "But he told me about them himself."

"You don't think-"

"No," Harry said firmly.

Ron opened his mouth to argue, but then closed it.

"I'm going to send a patronus to Hermione, tell her you're up," he said. "She's guarding Slughorn now..."

And with that he left the room, leaving Harry alone.


	22. Chapter 22

Claridina walked into Draco's room. He had been expecting her; she had had Max send word that she would be speaking with him.

"Evening, Draco," she said simply, sitting herself down in a wooden chair by the fireplace.

"Good evening, My Lady," Draco said promptly, bowing his head.

"You must be wondering why I have decided to speak with you tonight," she said.

"I am sure you have your reasons."

"You failed me," she said softly. "I asked you to win me Slughorn, and you failed. It was weeks ago, yes, I know that, and true, I did not have you punished, but I am still so disappointed in you, Draco. Ever so disappointed in you."

Draco said nothing, but worked hard on keeping his mind closed, trying hard to practice the Occulemency his aunt had taught him so many years ago.

"Hogwarts is due to be starting in one week's time," Claridina continued. "And you have brought me no closer to having the school."

"I am sorry, My Lady," Draco said. "I do not know how the Aurors knew I would be there."

"Save your excuses, Draco," Claridina said. "Though I must say, I would've thought you'd be a bit more concerned about who's running the school, considering that your son will be returning there on the first."

At the mention of his son, Draco was filled with fear. "Please, My Lady, give me another chance," he said desperately. "I will do better."

"There is no need for that," she said. "I have taken it upon myself to earn Hogwarts. I will admit, it will not be the quick, right away power hold I would've hoped for, but in the long run it will be just as effective."

"You've-you've already done it then?" Draco asked.

"Yes, Draco, I have," she replied, getting to her feet. "I am going to have an inside informant at Hogwarts, and by the end of the summer term next year, Hogwarts will be under my control; just like the rest of the wizarding world."

Draco opened his mouth to say something, but found that he had no words.

"That is all I wanted you to know," Claridina said, walking towards the door. "Just keep in mind, Draco, that the next time you fail me. I will not be this forgiving."

Draco nodded, hoping not to show just how frightened he was.

Claridina closed the door behind her and walked briskly to her study where Eppilep was waiting for her.

"Things are going smoothly at the ministry?" she asked, shutting and locking the door to the office.

"Yes, of course," Eppilep nodded.

"Very good. And I assume you've been assisting Rolwat in his...little project I've given him?"

"I have, My Lady," he said. "Though I daresay he hardly needs any assistance. He's a very gifted wizard for a boy of only fourteen."

"Of course he is," she said. "And...you've taken care of..._him_?"

"He was killed this morning."

"Excellent. Everything is set for the start of the term then," Claridina said, settling down at her desk, where a large cauldron stood, bubbling. She looked at a magazine page that was sitting amongst a pile of other papers. "What is this?"

"Something I thought would amuse you, My Lady," Eppilep replied. "It is from a crackpot magazine called _The Quibbler_. It is suggesting that you are like the former Dark Lord. I believe it is perhaps a feeble attempt by Potter and his gang to retaliate against what the _Prophet's _been slandering about him."

Claridina skimmed the article.

_He is comparing me to the Dark Lord_, she thought to herself. _That fool! I'm stronger than the Dark Lord was! Just as I vowed to be..._

_**Twenty One Years Ago**_

"_My Lord," Lucius Malfoy said shakily. "I've gotten her. The muggle studies professor from Hogwarts." _

"_Do not act as though you've done well, Lucius," came the cool, dark voice of Lord Voldemort. "She has no value to me. I simply wish to have a bit of...light entertainment for the evening. It seems I can no longer trust you with important tasks." _

"_You can, My Lord," Malfoy said desperately. "My allegiance to you is strong! Stronger than all others!" _

"_I doubt that," Voldemort said cruelly. "Your sister-in-law has proven her loyalty to me far more than you have. And then of course there is Severus. Do not underestimate the faith my followers have in me, Lucius. Perhaps your biggest contribution to me was opening your home to me. And I must say, you did that rather reluctantly." _

"_I am honored to have you here, My Lord," Malfoy said, bowing low. _

"_There is someone here," Voldemort said suddenly, pulling his wand from his robe. "Listening to us." _

"_That-that is impossible," Malfoy sputtered. "There are enchantments on all doors here to prevent-"_

_Voldemort gave a flick of his wand and the door flew open, revealing a girl of roughly seventeen with long, blonde hair and cold glassy eyes. _

_Claridina Wretermoust. _

"_Is is the girl Laxworth sent from Durmstrang," Malfoy hissed. "She has taken a habit to listening into conversations and sticking her nose where it does not belong. Leave, girl!" _

_Claridina ignored him and walked into the room, not showing the slightest bit of fear facing the wizard that so many had felt the wrath of. _

"_Make me a Death Eater." _

_She said it with such authority and force that Malfoy took a step back. No one dared address the Dark Lord in such a manner. Surely he would make her pay..._

_But instead, Voldemort gave a high-pitched laugh. "What is your name, girl?" _

"_Claridina Wretermoust. I can do magic better than any of the fools you have working for you now. With me by your side, I can get you Potter, and much, much more." _

_Voldemort chuckled again. "You speak to me as though we are equals. And even a filthy muggle could tell you Lord Voldemort has no equals." _

"_Make me a Death Eater," Claridina said again, this time more firmly. _

_Voldemort pointed his wand at her. "Crucio!" _

_Claridina fell to her knees, but did not scream. When the curse was lifted, she got to her feet again. _

"_Make me a Death Eater." _

"_How dare you speak so freely to the Dark Lord!" Malfoy finally said. _

"_I am not afraid of Lord Voldemort," Claridina said back to him calmly. _

"_How dare you speak his name!" _

"_Now, now, Lucius," Voldemort, said, waving his wand so that Claridina was once again brought to her knees. "Lord Voldemort can fight his own battles." _

_Again, Claridina felt the pain of the Unforgivable spell, but again, she did not scream. _

"_My Lord," Narcissa Malfoy said, looking into the open room, her son behind her. "Everyone is here, other than Yaxley and Snape, but they've sent word that they will be here shortly."_

"_You are not important enough for Lord Voldemort to kill directly," Voldemort said to Claridina. "For you to die at my hand would be an honor you do not deserve."_

_And with that, Voldemort glided out of the room. Lucius, looking at Claridina, unsure of what to do, quickly followed his master, along with his wife and son. _

_Claridina stood, her blood boiling not from the curses that had just been inflicted on her, but from the furry she felt. _

"_He will be dead," Claridina whispered. "Without my wand at his side, he will be dead. And he shall never see how wrong he was. I will not be his equal. I will be his superior!" _

_**End Flashback**_

"They're wrong," Claridina said, setting the article down. "I am nothing like Lord Voldemort was. I'm much, much stronger."


	23. Chapter 23

"Place seems different," Ron mumbled to Harry, looking around Diagon Alley.

"Course it does; it was reopened by Claridina," Harry pointed out.

The stores of Diagon Alley, which had once been cheerful and upbeat, now appeared plain and old. Of course, stores such as the Apothecary and Flourish and Blotts remained relatively unchanged, but then there were the stores that had sold all sorts of Dark detectors and other useful artifacts for fighting the Dark Arts that were now boarded up.

"There could be dementors around, remember," Harry said softly to Ron.

"Why don't we start in the bookshop?" Ginny asked, holding tightly to Lily's hand. "And then we'll go and get new robes. Albus should be fine in his from last year, but James has grown at least four inches this summer, and I suspect Alexandra will be needing new ones as well. She's had a growth spurt this summer too."

Alexandra nodded; her robes now barely covered her ankles.

"Rosie needs new ones too," Ron said. "Hugo spilled some sort of unremovable paint on them. It might be easier if we split up, since Alexandra's dad's expecting us to be back at your place in two hours."

"I don't know..." Hermione said hesitantly.

"He's right," Ginny nodded. "Me and you will take Hugo, Lily and Albus to buy everyone's books, and Ron and Harry will go to Madam Malkin's. Then we can all meet back at the Apothecary before heading home."

"Make sure you both have your wands ready," Harry said softly to the two women before turning to head towards the robe shop.

"Too bad Fred and Louis couldn't come," James sighed as he walked alongside Rose and Alexandra, Ron and Harry trailing closely behind them.

"They already got their supplies then?" Alexandra asked.

"Louis's dad is a curse breaker for Gringotts, so he picked up his things last week, and Uncle George is taking Fred in a few days," Rose explained. She then lowered her voice so Harry and her father couldn't hear. "Do you guys notice something...different?"

"Other than this place being downright depressing?" James said. "You'd think these idiots would see that this place and realize that Claridina's not looking out for them. It's amazing what they'll believe."

"Well yes, that's true," Rose whispered. "But that's not what I'm talking about. Every other time we come to Diagon Alley with your dad, people always whisper as he walks past, saying things like how he's their hero and that he saved us all."

"Yeah?" James frowned.

"Well this time," Rose said, lowering her voice even more. "They're all whispering, but it doesn't look like they're saying good things."

"Of course they're not," James said, rolling his eyes. "Claridina painted him out to be a power-hungry tyrant, didn't she?"

"It's just odd," Rose said. "We've read the _Prophet _articles, but seeing this in person just proves how serious everything is."

"In here, you lot," Ron said, opening the door to the robe shop.

Rose quickly stopped talking and hurried into the shop with James and Alexandra.

"What can I do for you lot?" Madam Malkin asked, folding long strips of fabric.

"These three need new robes," Harry said.

"Very well, onto the stools," Madam Malkin said, waving her wand and making three small stools appear. The children stepped onto them and Madam Malkin began busying herself taking measurements.

"I will have you know," Madam Malkin said, measuring around Alexandra's waist. "That it's been a right state harder doing business here lately."

"Has it?" Harry asked.

"For me especially, since I don't buy into all this rubbish that you're a self-centered corrupt bas-person," she finished hastily, taking a glance back at the three youngsters she was fitting.

"Good to know you've got one supporter here, Harry," Ron grinned.

"Oh there's more than just me," she said, sliding a long robe onto James and beginning to fix the hem. "Poor Olivander's been getting heat from the ministry for weeks for refusing to take down his discount to anyone who knows you."

"I'll talk to him later on this afternoon and tell him he needs to," Harry sighed. "There's no use in him getting himself killed over all of this."

"Well I pray he listens to you," Madam Malkin said. "Though please make sure you are out of here by the night."

"Why?" Ron asked.

"Ministry officials come and check each shop," she said wearily. "Or, the shops where they don't yet have the owners completely brainwashed. I'll usually get a few in here. And of course there's always surprise visits..."

"What would they do if they saw us here?" Ron asked slowly.

"I don't know," she said gravely. "But it wouldn't be wise for you to try and find out. Oh, I'd reckon you'd be fine, Mr. Weasley," she added. "Most of these officials that come in here aren't very high up in rank. They have no idea how close you are to Mr. Potter. Claridina's clearly only wasted enough time on them to teach them to go after him."

"Right, well," Harry nodded. "We're going to be leaving soon after this. My wife and Ron's wife are picking up the kids' books now, and then we just have to grab a few more supplies and then-"

"Oh no," Madam Malkin whispered, dropping the sleeve of the robe she had been fixing for Rose. She was looking out the window at a tall, pale women with long, dark hair approaching her store.

"It's one of them," she said, her face turning while. "One of this ministry officials."

"You don't happen to have your cloak on you?" Ron mumbled to Harry.

Harry nodded. Truthfully, he didn't like the idea of ducking under his cloak to hide from one of Claridina's followers. He'd much rather stand his ground, but he looked over at James and knew that there was a good chance that Claridina had also given these officials descriptions of his children as well.

Harry pulled out his cloak and Ron, apparently reading Harry's mind, helped James down from his stool without tripping over his un-hemmed robes.

Harry had just made sure that James was completely out of sight when the door to the shop opened.

"Everything running smoothly here?" the woman asked Madam Malkin.

"As smoothly as it can under these circumstances," Madam Malkin replied, trying hard not to look at the spot where Harry and James just vanished.

"What are you doing in this shop?" the woman asked, stepping over to Ron, ignoring the seamstress's comment.

"Getting my daughter robes for school," Ron said, clutching his wand in his own robe pocket. "Is that a problem."

"Both of these your daughters?" the woman asked, looking at Rose and Alexandra.

Rose looked terrified, yet determined not show it. Alexandra also felt frightened, but as she stared more at this woman, she suddenly recognized her. This woman had been with Claridina three years in Knockturn Alley; when Alexandra had gotten lost buying her Hogwarts supplies and wound up running into those awful witches.

"Just her," Ron said, nodding at Rose. "She invited her friend from school to come and get her supplies with her as well."

"Hmm, Hogwarts?" the woman said, studying the Gryffindor emblem on the girls' robes. "Interesting."

And with that, the woman tossed her hair back over her shoulders and strolled back out of the store.

Harry waited until she was completely out of sight before taking the cloak off of himself and James.

"Well why'd I have to hide?" James asked indignantly. "They're only looking for dad. I could've taught that lady a thing or two."

"There was a good chance she would've figured out you're his son," Rose told him. "You look a lot like Uncle Harry. Nearly as much as Albus."

"Sad but true," Ron nodded, grinning, but looking slightly shaken at what just happened.

"You think she'll head down to Flourish and Blotts?" Harry asked.

"Oh, don't you worry," Madam Malkin said soothingly, starting back up on the robes. "When we have surprise inspections like this, there's usually only one official, and she starts down at this end of the alley. She won't be getting down to the bookshop for at least another hour."

Harry nodded, but noticed that Madam Malkin began to quicken the pace of her sewing. She had all three sets of robes finished and fitted in another ten minutes.

"Let's get back to the others," Harry said, leading everyone out of the shop. Alexandra noticed that he had his wand out.

The three didn't walk too far ahead of Harry and Ron this time. Despite what he said on the contrary, Alexandra could tell that James had been shaken by the events in the robe shop. Alexandra looked along the cobbled streets and spotted the woman going into yet another store, this one with a large poster of Claridina and another bloke that read: _Your Protection is Our Priority._

_So this is what the wizarding world had become?_ Alexandra thought miserably to herself. She felt sickened at the fact that just moments ago Harry had to duck for cover to protect his son from one of her own mother's followers. And even worse was the idea that here Harry was, making sure Alexandra was safe in Diagon Alley, protecting her, and Alexandra knew it would be only a matter of time before she had to betray him again.


	24. Chapter 24

"Mum, have you seen my copy of _Standard Book of Spells, Grade Two_?" Rose asked her mother frantically.

"I think I saw in by the fireplace, dear," Hermione said.

"Can't believe the Hogwarts Express leaves tomorrow," Ron said as him, Harry and Hermione headed into a small room off the flight of the stairs of the Order headquarters. "Speaking of which, who's stationed at Hogsmeade when the train arrives?"

"Percy," Harry answered. He looked at his watch. "You told him to meet us here at three, right Hermione?"

"Yes," she nodded. "He should be here any-"

The door to the room suddenly opened and Borris Hensworth walked in. Hensworth had been one of Harry's top Aurors back before Claridina had taken over the ministry. He was a tall, burly man whose sullen face gave anybody who looked at him the correct impression that he was not somebody to be messed with. The only reason Harry had not asked him to join the Order right away was simply because his workload as an Auror at the time was too large. Harry had placed him in charge of tracking down as many of Claridina's as possible working with the Aurors from Germany and Prague, and he knew that if he were to suddenly pull him off the assignment to assist the Order, it would've looked highly suspicious. Shortly after the underground ministry fell, though, Harry had gone to Hensworth, who agreed at once to help the Order in any way he could.

"Thanks for coming," Harry said. "You've come from your meeting with McGonagall?"

"Yes, she explained to me what exactly I would be doing in my post," he nodded curtly.

"Good," Harry said. "Now then, Professor Quipps was probably the longest lasting Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher in some at Hogwarts, so obviously the students are going to need some time to get used to you."

"Of course."

"Right, now you need to remember that while you're at Hogwarts, you need to be on the lookout for anything suspicious. There will still be guards all around the grounds, but we really need someone on the inside," Harry explained. "Claridina wants to get her hands on Hogwarts, there's no question about that, and we know she has extraordinary abilities. I'd say that there's a chance that even with the protections around the school, she could still succeed in getting through. That's where you would come in. She'd have to have help to get in, so keep your eyes open for anybody that could be in contact with her. Especially her son, if by some slim chance he returns to the school this year."

"It would be stupid if Claridina let him return," Ron scoffed.

"Not if she's confident enough that she'll have the school under her control soon," Hermione pointed out.

"The only teachers who know you're in the Order are the ones who are with us as well," Harry continued. "McGonagall, Flitwick, Longbottom and Hagrid. The others believe that you're just a retired Auror."

"Is there any reason for that?" Hensworth asked.

"I don't want there to be any chance that Claridina can figure out you're there," Harry replied.

"The train leaves from Platform 9 3/4 tomorrow at eleven sharp at Kings Cross," Hermione told Hensworth, handing him his ticket. "Neville Longbottom will be waiting to escort you to the castle when the train arrives at the school."

"Very good," Hensworth said simply. "Is that all?"

"Yeah," Harry nodded. "We'll be in touch shortly."

Hensworth gave a short nod and then strolled out of the room.

"Have you spoken with the kids yet?" Hermione asked once the door shut again. "They've all seen Hensworth around here, they'll know he's working for the Order."

"I'll handle that," Harry told her. "Do you know if Bill and Fleur are back from Hungary yet?"

Ever since Harry had been poisoned, Mrs. Weasley had insisted that he take a break from guard duty for at least two weeks. Harry had of course protested, but Mrs. Weasley stood her ground firmly, and Harry had little choice but to reluctantly agree. He had used his free time since then researching protective charms, hoping to find ways he could get through that small glitch in Claridina's barriers. He was going to be back on the field for the first time today at Claridina's hideout with Neville during the night.

"I don't reckon they like Hensworth very much," Ron said.

"Why not?" Harry asked.

"He's not exactly friendly, is he?" Ron shrugged.

"But they know he's a very good Auror," Hermione said.

"Right, and so was old Mad-Eye," Ron pointed out. "But I didn't fancy him as a teacher. Don't get me wrong, it was excellent seeing all those hexes and counter curses, but he was just a bit too paranoid."

"Well considering he was really a Death Eater in disguise, I'd say he was right to be," Harry said. "Look, Hensworth is probably our best Auror. He knows his stuff. He'll teach the students well and keep track of anything strange happening at the school."

"Harry," Hermione said suddenly. "Are-Are you going to tell Malfoy about Hensworth."

"I was, why?" Harry frowned.

"Oh," Hermione said, blinking. "I was-it's just, I don't know if that's such a good idea."

"Why not?" Harry asked, crossing his arms. "Do you not trust him?"

"It's not that," she said quickly. "It's only that he spends a lot of time with Claridina. What if-what if Claridina _forces _him to tell her everything he knows about the Order?"

"He's been passing us information for close to a year," Harry told her firmly. "And he hasn't let anything slip yet."

"Yes, but-"

"I'm going to go see if Fleur and Bill are back," Harry said, walking across the room, leaving Ron and Hermione staring after him.


	25. Chapter 25

Harry paced anxiously in front of his fireplace. Draco was due to be calling any moment now. Harry had not told Ron or Hermione about this; he knew that neither of them exactly trusted Draco. On some level, Harry understood this. Draco _had _been their mortal enemy at Hogwarts, and a Death Eater. Harry was sure that had one of them had tried to convince _him _to trust Draco, Harry would've been skeptical. But then, didn't those two realize that Draco had been forced into the Dark Arts without having a say in it? His parents, especially his father, had probably bathed him in them since he was born, giving their poor child no chance to no nothing else. He knew Hermione understood this, and that her reluctance to have Harry tell him about Hensworth being appointed to go to Hogwarts from the Order stemmed from purely nobel intentions; she would've been hesitant whether it was Draco Harry was passing the information on to or not. Ron, on the other hand, Harry suspected still resented Draco from their school days.

Harry in no way exactly considered Draco his friend. He would never be able to look past all of the horrible things Draco had done while he was at school. But he _did_ know that Draco himself felt guilt from his actions, and that fact made Harry able to see Draco at least as a man fighting for the same cause he was.

At long last, Harry saw the flames turn green.

"I can only talk for a moment," Draco said urgently, his face appearing within the wood. "She's still in the house-"

"Then go and call when she leaves!" Harry said.

"It can't wait," Draco said quickly. "She's going to have someone inside Hogwarts!"

"Are you sure?" Harry asked.

"Yes, she told me herself!"

"Who?"

"I don't know," Draco whispered frantically. "But she says that with this, she'll have Hogwarts by the summer. It will take her longer than if I had succeeded with Slughorn, apparently."

"Do you mean a teacher?" Harry frowned. "Or her son?"

"I told you, I don't know!" Draco said. "I've told you all she told me!"

"We're going to have someone at Hogwarts as well," Harry said slowly.

"That's your best bet, I'd say," Draco said. "I-damn! I just heard footsteps down the hall! Someone's coming!"

Almost instantly, Draco's face vanished.

Harry stood up, dusting the ash from the bottoms of his pajama legs. So him and the Order had been right to suspect that Claridina would try and penetrate Hogwarts from the inside. He just hoped that Hensworth would be up to the challenge and be able to spot whoever it was that was working with Claridina.

...

"Make sure you've got all your things," Dudley said to Alexandra. "I think I see the Order members coming up the walk now."

"I think I have everything," Alexandra said, dragging her trunk into the kitchen. "Why do we have to go to the station with the Order members again?"

"Harry just wants to make sure we get there safely," Dudley told her.

There was a knock at the door, and Dudley opened up to reveal two wizards who Alexandra had seen briefly at the Order headquarters, though had never spoken to, and she did not know their names.

"We've got a car ready to take you to Kings Cross station," one wizard said. "If you have everything together, it would be best for us to leave now. The station's always packed, and we want to get you two there as safely as we can."

"Right, okay," Harry nodded. "Let me just grab her trunk-"

"No need," the second wizard said, taking his wand out of his pocket. He gave it a quick flick and Alexandra's heavy trunk levitated a few inches off the ground. "Are we all set now?"

"Yeah, thanks," Dudley said gratefully. "Come on, Alexandra."

Alexandra followed her father out to the car where the wizards were loading her trunk. She took a seat in the back and noticed that car looked far roomier on the inside than it was on the outside. The ride to Kings Cross was fairly silent, and even with the two wizards driving very quickly, they still had only fifteen minutes to spare by the time they reached the platform. After ushering her and her father through efficiently, the wizards brought her over to Harry, who had been talking to James.

"-And if I find out that you've been sneaking out of the castle, or are out of the common room past curfew, you'll be loosing your broomstick," Harry told his son sternly.

"Alright, alright," James said. "I won't, I promise. Hey, Alexandra."

Harry turned around to see Dudley and Alexandra walking over with two members of the Order.

"Hello," Harry said to Dudley and Alexandra. He looked at the Order members. "Any problems getting here?"

"Just the damn muggle traffic," one replied.

"Right, well, thanks for your help," Harry said. "You can head off now. I'll take Dudley back myself."

"Fred's just arrived, he's over there with his parents," James told Alexandra. "And I think I saw Alanna loading her trunk onto the train."

"I'm sure I'll find her once we board," Alexandra said, excited to see her best friend.

She helped her father heave her trunk onto the train, and by the time they were done, students were beginning to get onto the Hogwarts Express.

"Write me when you arrive," Dudley told her. "And be careful. Don't go with anybody suspicious, and try to never be out by yourself, if you can avoid it."

"Alright," Alexandra nodded.

"Be safe," Dudley said, giving his daughter a hug.

"You too," Alexandra replied. "I'll see you at Christmas."

She hopped onto the train, along with James, Albus, Fred, Louis and Rose, all of whom had just finished saying goodbye to their own families. "Let's find a compartment before they all get filled up," James said.

"Hang on, we have to wait for Alanna," Fred said.

"Yeah, we know you wouldn't want to miss her for, oh, five seconds," Louis grinned, earning him a hard kick from Fred.

"Well go look for her and find us," James told him. "We'll save you spots."

"I'll come too," Alexandra said.

"She was putting her trunk in over that way," James told them, nodding off down the corridor of the train.

Fred and Alexandra headed off, weaving through the many students that crowded the train.

"So," Alexandra said, ducking her head just in time to avoid being hit by a fanged frisbee. "Did you spend your whole summer hanging around the headquarters?"

"Nah," Fred replied. "James, Louis and I helped my dad a lot with his merchandise. Since he lost his store front, he's been doing just mail orders, so we helped get together the customers orders, and he let us take a bunch of products. If we're up for it, we might have a little fun after dinner."

"Alexandra! Fred!"

They turned around to Alanna running over towards them. She gave Alexandra a hug, and then Fred.

"I've been so excited to finally see you both again," she said. "How were your summers?"

"Fine, what about you?" Alexandra asked.

"Oh, boring as always," she said quickly.

"Come on, James has a compartment saved for us," Fred told her. Him and the girls finally found James and the others inside a compartment towards the front of the train. With the seven of them, it was a bit cramped, but Alexandra didn't mind.

"Did any of you see this strange wizard getting onto the train?" Alanna asked. "He was really big and he had dark hair and a mustache and-"

"That will be Hensworth," James mumbled. "He's our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. Quipps retired."

"Really?" Alexandra frowned.

"He's a member of the Order," James continued. "Only don't go telling anyone that, or my dad will kill me."

"We won't," Alexandra promised.

"Speaking of which," James said. "You'll never guess what I overheard."

"What?" Fred asked.

"Well it was about one or two this morning," James explained. "And I woke up to use the toilet, and on my way, I heard voices coming from the living room. Dad was talking to someone through the Floo!"

"Who?" Louis frowned.

"I don't know," James replied. "I couldn't walk in there and get a look, could I? And the voice sounded all muffled, but I did hear this. Apparently, Claridina has someone on the inside of Hogwarts!"

"Are you positive you heard that right?" Rose asked.

"Absolutely," James nodded.

"But-But that could just be her son, couldn't it?" Alanna reasoned.

"I haven't seen him on the train," Albus pointed out. "And dad and the rest of the Order has been saying all summer that she probably wouldn't send him back unless she got control of the school."

"Right, so I doubt it's him," James said. "And she hasn't got any other kids to use, thank God."

Alexandra shifted nervously in her seat.

"Well, clearly that's why our parents put Hensworth in the school," Rose said confidently.

"I don't like him," James said.

"Oh, and why not?" Rose asked impatiently.

"He seems a bit dodgy, if you ask me," James shrugged.

"He's an excellent Auror," Rose pointed out. "My dad and yours have worked with him for years."

"Still though," James said. "I don't like him. Who knows, though, maybe once I have a class with him..."

After the sweets trolly came, Albus left, saying he was going off to find Scorpius.

Alexandra found it hard to enjoy her Cauldron Cakes and chocolate frogs. Something James had said was bothering her.

So Claridina was going to have a person in Hogwarts? Of course it would make sense that that person would be her son, yet, like the others, Alexandra didn't think he would be going back to the school. She wondered...was this person her? True, Alexandra hadn't spoken to her mother since she told her about Harry's knowledge of the spies, but she didn't think her mother would be held over on that information much longer. Perhaps Claridina had been waiting for her daughter to return to Hogwarts before she tried to get more information...

_But I don't have to tell her anything! _Alexandra thought triumphantly to herself. _I vowed to help her get Harry. I don't have to do a damn thing to help her get Hogwarts! _

This thought brightened Alexandra's spirits. If she was in fact Claridina's informant, then she had just outsmarted her mother in her own game.


	26. Chapter 26

The Hogwarts express slowed to a stop in front of the Hogsmeade station. Alexandra and the others fought their way through the crowd of students trying to get off the train. Alexandra strained her neck, trying to see if Rolwat was among the students.

"Alexandra, come on," Alanna told her friend. "The carriages are right over there."

Deciding it would be easier to simply see if Rolwat was at his usual seat at the Slytherin house table in the Great Hall, Alexandra followed Alanna into one of the carriages with Fred.

The carriages were pulled by Thestrals, Alexandra knew. Fred and Alanna could not see them, yet for some reason that had puzzled Alexandra ever since she had realized it, she herself could see them, even though she had never seen death. Sometimes, however, the creatures _were_ invisible to her, and that sparked her curiosity even more. Tonight, she was thankful that the creatures were no visible to her.

"I hope my stuff from dad's shop gets past security," Fred said.

"You mean they're checking our bags?" Alexandra frowned.

"Well they've done it every year," Fred explained. "Only not so thoroughly. This year though, with Claridina and everything, they've upped the security. I heard that we'll be searched as well, to make sure we're not smuggling anything into the castle in our pockets, I suppose."

"Do you think they'd make teachers go through the security as well?" Alanna asked. "Maybe whoever Claridina has working for her here is another new professor."

"McGonagall would have the teachers checked, I think," Alexandra said.

"I don't think any other teacher left, other than Quipps, though," Fred said. "But that _does_ sound like the best idea of who Claridina could be in cahoots with."

"Well, we'll see soon enough, won't we," Alanna pointed out. "We're nearly to the school..."

Alexandra could see the outline of the castle approaching, and she felt the familiar sense of home that the castle always provided to her. When their castle reached the front of the school, Alexandra, Fred and Alanna jumped out of their carriage, and joined back up with James, Rose and Louis (Albus hung back a bit with Scorpius, much to James's displeasure), and they all filed into the the entrance of Hogwarts.

"Form a line, please!" tiny Professor Flitwick called to them. He was holding a long, thin object that Louis pointed out as a Dark Detector.

"Er, does that thing _hurt_?" Alanna asked skeptically, looking at the Dark Detector.

"Nah, they just wave it over you," Fred replied.

"It's like those metal detectors they have at muggle airports," Alexandra observed.

"If you say so," Fred shrugged.

When Alexandra and the others reached Flitwick, he waved the detector over each of them, and after finding nothing of suspicion in their possessions, he allowed them to pass into the Great Hall.

"For once, I wish they'd sort the first years _after_ we ate," Louis grumbled, sitting down at the Gryffindor table, looking longingly at the empty plate in front of him.

"But then no one be paying any attention to the sorting," Rose pointed out.

"Well I'm too busy starving to pay much attention to it now," James said. "Oh good, I think Neville's coming in with them now."

Neville led in a group of scared looking first years, carrying in his hands the three-legged stool with the school's Sorting Hat placed upon it.

"Attention, please!" Professor McGonagall said, getting to her feet, causing the chatter in the hall to die down at once. "The Sorting will now begin."

Hearing its cue, the battered Sorting Hat came to life and opened its brim and began the new song that it wrote every year for each ceremony.

_Scattered, we find ourselves once again,_

_Choosing sides in yet another war. _

_And a struggle wears on outside out walls,_

_one that just might make us all fall._

_Tyranny and Desire have once again shown their ugly heads,_

_And the want for power burns strong. _

_Outside our walls, a storm is brewing,_

_Gaining strength in every hour._

_Outside out walls, yes, trouble festers,_

_but make no mistake. _

_Though magic like no other protects us,_

_do not be a fool, for you are not immune._

_Think with your head, not another's,_

_during your stay at Hogwarts. _

_Here you will learn who your truly are,_

_and the result just might be a shock. _

_But I've said it before,_

_and I'll say it again!_

_It matters not if you've got the wit of a Ravenclaw, or the cunning of a Slytherin,_

_Or the heart of a Hufflepuff or the gut of a Gryffindor._

_It matters only that,_

_you've been placed in one school. _

_One school that stands united,_

_But falls divided._

"Bit of a gloomy song, that was," Fred commented as polite applause filled the Hall.

"Yes, but it made sense," Alanna said. "It told us that we're only safe from everything going on outside the school if we don't go making enemies among ourselves, and to think on our own, and not buy into everything we hear."

"It's a hat," Fred frowned as Neville called "Applegate, Murry," to be sorted. "How accurate do you think it is."

Murry Applegate was sorted into Hufflepuff, and Bodewell Lawrence was called.

"There's a lot less first years this year than last year," Rose whispered. "A lot of parents must've decided not to send their kids."

"That's stupid," James scoffed.

"Everybody knows that Claridina wants to take over Hogwarts," Rose told him. "Which means that everybody who's against her knows exactly what she'll do to get it, I mean, you saw what happened last year. And those idiots who are supporting her won't want their kids going to a place when it's run by teachers who openly oppose her!"

This line of first years had now dwindled, and Neville was up to "Peterson, Camille", who became a Slytherin.

"It looks like a lot of old students are missing as well," Alanna said, looking around the Great Hall. "I don't see the Moss twins from Hufflepuff anywhere, and it looks like Maggie Flint from Ravenclaw is missing as well.

Alexandra stole a glance over at the Slytherin table. Rolwat was nowhere to be seen!

Finally "Yetts, Glen" was sorted into Gryffindor, and McGonagall rose to her feet.

"Now that everyone has been sorted, you may begin the Hogwarts feast!"

"About time!" James and Fred said hungrily, grabbing their forks as mountains of food appeared on the table.

"Look," Alanna said, looking up at the staff table. "Hensworth's the only new teacher."

"Yeah," Fred frowned, his mouth stuffed with lamb chops. "-ho' do o' 'ink Cardeena 'oud 'e 'oring wit 'den?"

"I don't know," Alanna replied, looking disgusted as she wiped her face that Fred had accidentally gotten food on.

Alexandra said nothing, playing quietly with the potatoes on her plate.

Once the deserts had been cleared away, and everybody was feeling full and drowsy, McGonagall got to her feet again.

"As you have all undoubtably seen by now," she said. "Hogwarts's security has been heightened immensely since you've last been here. We will have trained guards on the grounds around the clock, packages coming in and out of the school will be searched, and like last year, Hogsmeade trips are still canceled."

"Oh come off it," James moaned.

"Even with these precautions, however," McGonagall continued. "It's still gravely important that you exercise extreme caution during your stay at this school, and during your time outside of it as well. We are in the middle of Dark times, and it would be unwise for you to go looking for trouble." Her eyes flashed over to the Gryffindor table.

"Now then, off to bed with all of you," she said. "First years, you will be lead to your respective common rooms by a Prefect from your house. Now loitering in the corridors; curfews _will_ be enforced!"


	27. Chapter 27

"I don't get it," Fred said as him, Alexandra and Alanna stood up to head back to the Gryffindor common room. He looked back at the staff table. "If Hensworth is the only new teacher at Hogwarts, then who can Claridina have here?"

"Well, if you think about it," Alanna said slowly. "It wouldn't have made too much sense for her to have one of the teachers as her spy."

"Why not?" Alexandra asked.

"Well," she said. "They'd all have to be checked out by McGonagall for one. Also, a new teacher would've been a bit obvious. I mean, she knew that the school was going to be heavily guarded this year. I'm sure one of the guards would've noticed if one of the professors was doing something odd."

"Yeah, probably," Fred agreed. "But then who else could it be?"

"A student?" Alanna suggested.

"But who?" Fred frowned. "Look! Her son's not here anymore! And it's like James said, she doesn't have any other kids."

"Well, maybe she's using the child of one of her followers," Alanna said thoughtfully.

"Maybe," Alexandra nodded. "Any idea who those are?"

"Scorpius," Fred said at once. "Remember? Everyone saw his dad fighting along with them last year."

Alexandra considered this; it _was_ possible. She knew that Claridina would take advantage of anybody who could help her. Perhaps she _had _gone to Scorpius and had forced him to help her. But then again, there was also the possibility that Claridina had counted her as her assistant in whatever he plan was...

_No_, Alexandra said firmly to herself. _That's not going to happen. _

Alexandra slept restlessly that night, finally falling fully asleep just a few short hours before she was woken by the sounds of her dormitory getting ready for the first day back to classes.

As Alexandra pulled back the curtains of her four-poster bed, she saw Alanna pulling on her socks, and the other two girls, Tiffany Finnigan and Grace Macmillan. Grace showed her a small smile when Tiffany was bending down to pick up her bag before the two girls headed out of the room without a word to Alexandra or Alanna.

"I know it's awful to say, but I was hoping their parents wouldn't be sending them back," Alanna said. "Or Tiffany's at least. I think Grace could be nice if she was on her own."

"Shame," Alexandra agreed, pulling on her robes.

Fred was waiting for them down in the common room, in deep conversation with James.

"It makes sense, though," Fred was telling him as Alexandra and Alanna joined them. "His father _is _a follower of Claridina, _and_ he used to be a Death Eater."

"His whole family's been involved in the Dark Arts for years," James nodded. "You know, maybe I'll right dad about that..."

"Oh, this isn't about Scorpius, is it?" Alanna said, rolling her eyes.

"Alanna, you're the one said that Claridina could be using the kid of one of her followers!" Fred said.

"Yes, but not necessarily Scorpius," Alanna said. "In case you haven't noticed, he's a Gryffindor."

"Yeah, but look what he's got for a father," James pointed out.

"Still," Alanna said firmly. "The Sorting Hat put him Gryffindor. And I know we're not supposed to discriminate by house, but clearly the Sorting Hat saw him as different from the rest of his family if he decided to put him here."

"It's not like the hat's never put someone in Gryffindor who shouldn't have belonged there, though," Fred said darkly.

"Well I'm sure there has been a few cases," Alanna said. "But-"

"He's right," James nodded, interrupting her. "You know how Voldemort killed my dad's parents, right?"

"Yes," Alanna said.

"Well he wouldn't have gotten to them if their friend, who had been working for Voldemort as a double agent, hadn't told Voldemort where they were hiding," James said. "Peter Pettigrew was a Gryffindor, and he wound up selling them out."

"I-I-Well that's terrible," Alanna said softly. "But...I _know _it's a possibility that Claridina could be using Scorpius-"

"Exactly, that's what we've been saying!" Fred said.

"-But it could also be another student, if it_ is _even a student," Alanna continued. "Remember, Claridina has a lot of followers."

"I'm still writing to dad to tell him," James said. "I'll have to do it in a way so that he doesn't find out I heard him talking to whoever it was in the fireplace, though."

James stayed up in the common room to wait for Louis, so Fred and the girls went down to the Great Hall on their own.

"Schedules," Neville said, handing the three their new schedules for the year.

"Damn, double potions first thing," Fred read. "At least we've got Herbology and double Care of Magical Creatures in the afternoon, though. We'll be outside."

"Potions isn't that bad," Alexandra said, though she knew that this was far from the truth. Professor Slughorn had always made the class less-than pleasant, with his swooping down over the three so often, chatting on about how well he knew Fred's relatives and how Harry had been one of his most gifted students.

"Too bad he didn't retire instead of Quipps," Fred sighed, looking over at the staff table. "Mind you, Slughorn looks like he needs a good long retirement. He looks worse than he did last year." The girls turned and looked at the Potions Master and saw that Fred was indeed right. Slughorn had bags under his eyes and he seemed to have lost the bounce in his step as he dragged his feet to his seat at the table.

"Maybe he's just sick," Alanna reasoned.

"Maybe," Fred shrugged, grabbing a plate of eggs and piling them onto his.

"Man, I was hoping to have Hensworth today," James said as him and Louis took a seat next to the three. "Have you three got him?"

"Not until Wednesday," Alexandra replied.

"Thursday for us," Louis sighed. "Our schedule today is downright terrible. What about you?"

"Just double potions in the morning," Fred said. "What's so bad about yours?"

"Double History of Magic, potions, and Divination," Louis mumbled.

"I've got that but Ancient Runes instead of Divination in the afternoon," James said.

"I thought you were taking Muggle Studies," Fred said.

"I wanted to, thought it'd be an easy class," James sighed. "You know, since my dad has a bunch of muggle stuff around our house. But mum told me she knew very well that I'd use that class to sleep in, and if I wasted my time in it, she'd be sending me weekly howlers for the rest of my of days at Hogwarts."

"Shame I have to miss that," Fred grinned.

"Oh, look who it is," Louis mumbled, watching as Albus and Scorpius took a seat next to Rose.

"Rose is friends with that git now?" James scowled. "Come off this!"

"We're going to be late for class," Alanna said, looking at her watch. "Come on, we'd better get down to the dungeons."

Slughorn was still eating breakfast, so the students were huddled up outside the dungeon.

"Can't wait until after next year, when I can drop this class," Fred said.

"But you're good at potions, not like me," Alexandra said.

"Yes, but Slughron's unbearable," Fred said.

Suddenly, the dungeon door opened, and the students expected to see Professor Slughorn, but instead, a tiny house elf appeared.

He seemed taken back by the crowd of students suddenly surrounding him, and with a frightened squeak, and what looked like half a bow, he hurried off.

"Wonder what he was doing in there," Alanna frowned.

"Who cares," Fred shrugged. "Slughorn was probably having him deliver him pineapple or something."

"Probably," Alexandra nodded.


	28. Chapter 28

Professor Slughorn arrived to his classroom nearly ten minutes after the start of the period.

"Very sorry, very sorry," he said as he opened up his classroom for the students to enter. "I've been feeling a bit under the weather...Anyhow, no matter, let's get to work! Books out and open to page thee hundred and ninety four, if you please!"

"Bloody hell, what's that smell?" Fred said, wrinkling his nose and him, Alanna and Alexandra took their seats at their usual table.

Alexandra smelled it too. It was as if someone had tried to cover up a very foul scent with an overuse of a perfume, and the end result was far from desirable.

"You'll have to excuse the aroma in here," Slughorn said. "It's coming from a potion I have brewing for my N.E.W.T. students. Now, you'll see in your books in front of you that you will be making a simple wart removing potion. Not very difficult, but extremely useful! Simply follow the instructions and turn in a vile by the end of the class!"

"He really must be sick," Alexandra commented, poring some salt water into her cauldron. "He's not as...energetic as he usually is."

True, Slughorn usually spent the entire class period walking around the dungeon, peering into his students' cauldrons offering his input. And of course, whenever he would reach Fred, Alexandra and Alanna, his energy always seemed to increase greatly. Now, however, he settled himself down at his desk and sipped out of a large goblet with a bright green steaming liquid in it.

"Well, I'm sure he'll be back to his old self soon enough," Fred said, stirring in a few scoops of beetle eyes into his cauldron. "Unfortunately for us."

"Fred, that's terrible," Alanna said, though not in an all convincing voice.

After a surprisingly uneventful potions lesson, the three headed back up to the common room to get started on the thirteen inches Slughorn had assigned on cosmetic potions before lunch. The common room was relatively empty, except for a handful of second years who also had break. Alexandra saw Albus and Scorpius sitting by the fireplace, playing a game of wizard's chess, but it looked like they were also discussing something very serious as well.

"I think we're going to need to get some books from the library for this," Alanna said, flipping through her own potions book. "There's not too much in here that will help us...Oh, but the Hufflepuffs are on break now too, and they always go to the library and they're so loud. Maybe it'd just be easier if I ran down there and brought some books back up."

"I'll come with you," Fred said at once.

"Er, alright then," Alanna said. She turned to Alexandra. "We should be back in a few minutes; save our spot."

Alexandra nodded as she watched her two friends disappear out the portrait door. She turned back to look at Albus and Scorpius. She couldn't hear what they were whispering, but she noticed that Scorpius looked very nervous.

_Well his father __**is **__working with Claridina, _she reminded herself. _Perhaps something's gone wrong..._

If only she could hear what they were saying...Suddenly, Alexandra realized that she _did_ have a way to do exactly that. Quickly digging through her bag, she extracted the Extendable Ear that Fred had given her a while ago. Making sure that the fleshy colored string was hidden by her hair, Alexandra placed one end in her ear and pretended to be very interested in her potions book.

"I didn't hear from him all summer!" Scorpius whispered to Albus, moving his rook.

"Did-Did you expect to?" Albus asked softly.

"No," Scorpius mumbled. "But from what you told me...something big's going to go down here soon, if your dad placed his guards all around here, plus Hensworth."

"Remember, you're not to tell anyone about him," Albus said firmly. "Besides, if Claridina is planing something to get the school...that doesn't mean your father's necessarily involved."

"Rose told me she overheard your brother and your cousins talking about him this morning," Scorpius said. "That James is going to write your dad-"

"He's full of rubbish," Albus said, rolling his eyes. "If he thinks you're Claridina's spy in here...I _wish _I knew who it was though."

"Last year," Scorpius said, looking around the common room to make sure nobody was listening (Alexandra stared determinedly at the book in front of her). "Last year, when her son kept trying to get me to help him with that whole plan of his, you know, to take over the castle with his mum, he mentioned something..."

"What?" Albus asked.

"Well, he-he seemed to already know he wouldn't be at Hogwarts this year," Scorpius said.

"He did?"

"Yes, even back then, when he still thought his mum was going to take Hogwarts during her attack...he told me that she still wanted to have people inside the school that could tell her if there were any sort of rebellions going on. He-He wanted that to be me."

"But you said no, didn't you?" Albus asked.

"Of course I did," Scorpius nodded. "That's when he got mad. I told him I didn't want anything to do with him or his mum, and just because my dad might've joined Claridina, didn't mean I was going to. And-And he said..."

"Said what?"

"He said it didn't matter," Scorpius replied, lowering his voice so low that Alexandra had to jam the Extendable Ear further into her ear just to hear. "He said that there was already another lined up that would be helping him and his mum. Then he said something odd..."

"What?"

"He said that this person was... 'In their bloodline'," Scorpius said. "That I was only being asked to serve under this person's command."

"In their bloodline?" Albus repeated. "But that makes it sound like...there's somebody here that's related to him and his mum!"

"Exactly," Scorpius nodded.

"But-there can't be," Albus frowned. "She doesn't have any family besides him, does she?"

"I don't know," Scorpius sighed. "But if she does, we're all in trouble aren't we?"

Alexandra yanked the Extendable Ear from her ear, and as quickly as she could without drawing attention to herself, she gathered her belongings and headed up to her dormitory.

_If what Scorpius said is true, _she thought miserable to herself as she started up the stairs. _Than it sounds as if I really am Claridina's spy. _

And as she tried to convince herself as she continued on up the stairs that she wouldn't have to help Claridina if she didn't want to, that she did not make an Unbreakable Vow for these circumstances, she knew, deep down, that if her mother wanted her to be a spy, then one way or another, even if it was by force, she was going to be one. After all, look at what Claridina had already made her agree to.

She threw open her dormitory door and stormed in, only to stop dead in her tracks.

Sitting on her bed was a large eagle owl with a letter tied to its foot, the writing on the front of it painfully familiar to her.


	29. Chapter 29

Alexandra slowly stepped towards the owl and, with a shaky hand, untied the letter. Checking over her shoulder to make sure that nobody was coming up the stairwell behind her, she opened the envelope.

_Come down to the Forbidden Forest at half past eight tonight. Do not even think of bringing anybody, or letting anyone know where you are going. Mother says if you refuse this meeting, you know the consequences. _

_Rolwat_

A meeting in the middle of the Forbidden Forest? He had to be crazy! Alexandra tore up the letter and threw the pieces into the wastebasket by the window. He knew how tight security was this year! How exactly was she to sneak down into the forest, getting past not only the teachers, but the members of the Order who were guarding the grounds of Hogwarts!

But then again, she didn't have a choice. Rolwat had said that she knew the consequences if she refused, and he was right; if Claridina was threatening her with the Vow, she knew she was going to be forced to get down there one way or another.

The owl gave a loud hoot, making Alexandra jump, for she had almost forgotten that the creature was still there.

There was a small parcel tied to its other ankle that Alexandra must've missed, being so distracted by the letter. Alexandra untied it and opened it up to see a small vile with a note attached to it.

_Drink entire vile five minutes before leaving for the forest. It will let you get past security._

Alexandra examined the contents; the liquid was clear, almost like water. Of course every reasonable fiber in her body told her not to drink anything that came from her mother _or _her brother, but she found herself pocketing the vile anyway, wondering how the owl had gotten this past the owl checks.

The owl took flight out the window. Alexandra watched as it disappeared into the sky, and then sat down on her bed.

She knew she was going to need to make an excuse for her absence tonight. She could always say she needed to talk to Hagrid, but Fred and Alanna might want to join her. Simply saying she was going up to bed early wouldn't work, for if Alanna went up to the dormitory and saw she wasn't there, the whole plan would be ruined.

Alexandra let out a sigh. If it was already becoming this hard to keep all these secrets from her friends now, she could only imagine how hard it would become as the year went on.

...

Harry, crouching beneath his Invisibility Cloak, walked around the seemingly empty area that housed Claridina's Hungarian hideout, searching for the small glitch in the protection that he had discovered weeks ago. He removed the bubble head charm that members of the Order had been wearing during their periods of guard duty ever since he had been poisoned and smelt the familiar scent of rotting flesh that came from Claridina's Thestrals, signaling that he had found the spot.

Placing the bubble head charm back on himself, Harry kneeled down and drew his wand out. He knew the protection here would be even weaker than it was last time; Hermione's charms to bring down the multiple barriers were finally beginning to kick in, though very slowly.

Racking his brain, he tried to remember every one of the spells from the books he had been pouring over for the past few weeks. He knew it was going to be time consuming, and undoubtably take a lot of work, but he believed he could use this glitch to get to Claridina.

"_Penotriate_," Harry whispered. A small series of white sparks emitted from his wand tip, but other than that, there was no indication once so ever that the spell was working. All he could do was hope that it was.

This spell was a bit stronger than the ones Hermione had been steadily placing on the hideout, but it could only work on small areas, which was perfect for what Harry wanted. It was supposed to greatly weaken the remaining protections around the area, allowing Harry to take down the rest with more ease. Like Hermione's, though, this spell could take weeks to fully work. Harry stood back up and looked around the forest for Ron, who was on guard duty with him that day.

"You find anything over there?" Ron asked as Harry joined up with him again towards the the mouth of the forest.

"No," Harry said quickly. "Must've just been a mouse I heard..."

"Only a few minutes left before Lander and Fleur take out places," Ron commented, looking at his watch. He turned back to the area where he knew Claridina's hideout was. "Wonder how long it will be until we get through..."

"Hermione reckons it will be months, doesn't she?"

"Yeah," Ron nodded. "She said that she can't perform the next charm for at least one more week. It will be right around the time we get back from France."

"Oh, right, you two are leaving today, aren't you?" Harry asked.

"Right after I get back," Ron nodded. "Thanks again for watching Hugo for us. And leaving us off the guard schedule for the week."

"Don't mention it, it's your fifteenth anniversary," Harry said. "Mind you, you're setting the bar pretty high for me next year..."

"Ah, well," Ron grinned. "Remember, send word to us if anything happens and we'll be right over."

"Right," Harry nodded.

A moment later they heard a loud popping noise in the distant, and Fleur and Lander, and old Auror of Harry's, walked into sight.

"It's been pretty uneventful here," Harry said to them as they placed their bubble head charms. "Remember, send a Patronus if there's anything."

"Yes, we will," Fleur nodded.

"Charlie and Angelina will be replacing you in four hours," Harry told them as him and Ron turned to walk out of the woods so they could apperate back to the Order headquarters. They apperated back into the kitchen, where Hermione and Ginny were helping Mrs. Weasley make a stew while Hugo and Lily were playing a game of Exploding Snap.

"Anything?" Hermione asked softly.

"Nope," Harry answered.

"Well that's a good thing, I suppose," Ginny pointed out.

"Yes, it is," Molly nodded.

"Are you guys ever going to tell us where you go?" Lily asked, looking up from her game.

"Don't you worry about it, Lil," Harry told her.

"But I want to know!"

"Sound familiar?" Ron grinned.

"Well, we'd better be off," Hermione said to Ron.

"Have fun, you too, but be careful," Molly said, wiping her hands on her apron to give them each a hug. "France has been having a lot of fishy activity lately."

"We will, don't worry, Molly," Hermione smiled.

"Can't believe you lasted fifteen years with him, Hermione," Ginny grinned. "I couldn't stand living in the same house as him growing up, and you're stuck for life."

"Oh shove it, will you," Ron scowled.

"Now, you'll be good for your Aunt Ginny and Uncle Harry, won't you, Hugo?" Hermione asked her son, giving him and hug and kiss goodbye.

"Yes," Hugo nodded.

"We'll be back Monday," Ron told them, giving his son a quick hug goodbye.

"We know, go on then," Harry said.

"Thanks again Harry, Ginny!" Hermione called as her and Ron headed out of the kitchen.

"Why don't you two go get washed up for dinner," Molly said to Hugo and Lily.

The two children, listening to their grandmother, ran upstairs, leaving the adults in the kitchen.

"Hensworth called for you while you were out," Ginny told her husband, lowering her voice.

"Did he?" Harry frowned. "Did he say what for?"

"He told me to tell you that he's searched nearly every professors office at the school," Ginny said. "All except for Slughorn...Hensworth says he's been a bit uncooperative."

"Yes, I suspected as much," Harry sighed. "He's hiding something...doesn't want us finding out."

"You think it might be something like that memory he hid for so many years about Voldemort?" Ginny asked.

"I really don't know," Harry admitted. "But that's probably why Claridina wanted him back during the summer."

"Well if he's refusing to have his office searched," Molly pointed out, setting a large pot of stew on the table. "I'd say he's dead set on keeping whatever it is a secret."

"Unfortunately, yes," Harry nodded. He looked at his watch. "Which means it's going to be all the more difficult for me to get it out of him. I should be back in a few hours."

"You're going to the school now?" Ginny asked.

"Yes."

"And have you even thought of how you're going to say to him to persuade him to tell you what it is he's been keeping?"

"Well, I-I thought I'd wing it," Harry admitted.

"I'm coming with you," Ginny said firmly. "You might be Slughorn's favorite past pupil, but I don't think that will cut it this time." She turned to her mother. "Mum, you can watch Lily and Hugo for a bit, can't you?"

"Yes, of course," Molly nodded. "But-"

"Great, we'll see you in a few hours then," Ginny said. She turned back to Harry. "Well come on then."

…..

**AN-Happy Birthday Harry Potter and J.K. Rowling!**


	30. Chapter 30

Alexandra glanced at her watch as her and Alanna sat at their table in the common room, working on their Herbology essay Professor Longbottom had assigned earlier that day. It was a quarter past eight. If she was going to make it down to the Forbidden Forest in time, she was going to have to leave soon.

"Er, I think I should be heading down now," Alexandra said, closing her book.

"Down? To where?" Alanna frowned.

"Didn't I tell you?" Alexandra said, trying to sound casual. "Er, Slughorn talked to me after Potions today and told me that maybe some extra lessons with him would help my performance in his class, you know, since we have those big O.W.L. exams next year..."

"When did he tell you that?" Alanna asked. "You left right after the lesson today with me and Fred."

"Yes, I know," Alexandra said quickly. "He-He found me in the corridor after lunch, on my way to the bathroom. Said he was just coming to talk to me in the Great Hall and that's when he offered them to me."

"Oh, well," Alanna nodded. "That's good then. I'm sure he'll be helpful."

"Hopefully," Alexandra nodded. "Shouldn't take long, though. I'll see you when I get back."

"Alright, good luck," Alanna smiled.

Alexandra headed out of the common room and hurried to the nearest girls lavatory. After making sure it was empty, she pulled the small vile that had been delivered to her that morning. She uncorked the vile and cringed at the strong scent that wafted out of it. Before she could talk herself out of this, she quickly gulped down the contents.

The effects were instant. She let out a gasp as she felt a white hot heat radiate down her body, as though she had swallowed a flame. She gripped the sink and looked at her reflection in the mirror and nearly let out a scream of surprise. It looked as though her body was fading! Sure enough, when she looked down at her hands, they were nearly transparent.

She was becoming invisible!

Alexandra continued to watch in the mirror as her body disappeared before her eyes. The entire process took only a few moments. It was absolutely bizarre, knowing that nobody could see her. It was strangely satisfying. But she knew she didn't have time to bask in the feeling. Taking one last look at her non-existent reflection in the mirror, she set off towards for grounds of the school.

It was very dark out tonight, and even if she had not been invisible, she knew it would've been very hard for anyone to spot her. She saw the lights on in Hagrid's hut, and she spotted a guard from the Order standing near the greenhouses. She turned towards the forest, wondering how Rolwat would find her when she was invisible, but then she stopped dead in her tracks. She heard voices.

She quickly spun around and felt her heart skip a beat. Two figures were walking towards the castle and, squinting, she realized that it was none other than Harry and Ginny!

They were just a few steps away from her and Alexandra let out an involuntary gasp. For a moment, she could've sworn she saw Harry's eyes flicker towards her, but then she reminded herself that she was invisible. Still, she stayed absolutely still as Harry and Ginny passed.

_What are they doing here_? She thought to herself. But there was no time to ponder that now. She continued over the forest.

She didn't know what she was supposed to do, simply wait for Rolwat to appear?

"Glad to see you showed up."

She looked over her shoulder and saw Rolwat approaching her, riding a creature that looked almost like a Thestral, but more...sinister looking.

"How-How can you see me?" she whispered.

"The Thestral smells you," he replied, jumping off its back. "Now then...mother, of course, would've wanted to tell you all this in person, but seeing as she has other things on her plate at the moment..."

"I'm not going to do it," Alexandra said firmly. "I know she wants me to feed her information to help her take over Hogwarts. But you can just go and tell her that she's already coerced me into one agreement that I don't want to be in, and I'm not about to be tricked into one."

To her surprise, Rolwat let out a laugh. "You think our mother sent me here to ask you to do a job that she's already got covered?"

Alexandra blinked. "S-Someone else is already doing it?"

"Yes."

"But-But who?"

"Now, we can't go spilling all of our secrets, now can we?" Rolwat grinned. "Maybe once you've proven yourself more trustworthy..."

"What is it you wanted to talk to me about?" Alexandra asked, anxious to get this conversation over with.

"Why I thought you would've know that," he said. "It's about your Vow, of course, and how you're going to continue it."

"I haven't got any new information for her," she said.

"Well that will be because you haven't been trying, now won't it," Rolwat said, glaring at her.

Alexandra didn't reply.

"That was of course, mother's reasoning in arranging this little meeting," Rolwat continued. "She loaned me one of her Thestrals and taught me a few handy spells that got me through the protection. The security here _is _tight, but they really don't watch the skies as well as they should. Besides, it's not me they're looking for, now is it?

"Mother says that she's been thinking a lot of the timing of her takeover of Hogwarts, and she's decided it would work nicely if she were to be able to dispose of Harry Potter around that same time. She'd take out two birds with one stone, and she'd finally have the wizarding world under her power."

Alexandra frowned. "I don't know how I'm supposed to help her with that anymore. I don't go to the Order headquarters now, since term's started."

"You're being stupid on purpose," Rolwat spat at her. "You know very well that Harry Potter will be at this school on many occasions, guarding over it with his pathetic Order."

"Well what would she like me to do then?" Alexandra asked, frustrated. "Waltz up to him one day after Herbology and say, 'Hi Harry, please tell me some important secrets about how Claridina might kill you'?"

"Mother has said many times," Rolwat told her, narrowing his eyes. "That Harry Potter's greatest weakness is his readiness to trust and love. The Dark Lord failed to take advantage of this properly, and it cost him his life and power."

"But I don't know what that's supposed to mean!" Alexandra exclaimed, not bothering to keep her voice down.

"Harry Potter believes you to be a victim," Rolwat hissed at her, gripping her shoulders. "He does not see you as an enemy as many would, given your birth line! Use that!"

"But I-"

"Mother said giving you a deadline worked before," Rolwat said darkly walking back towards his Thestral. "You have until the end of the month, and then she will be expecting results. If she fails to receive them...well, you know what will happen. Go now. The potion will wear off soon." And with that he jumped back on the Thestral, gave it a hard kick in the hindquarters and set off.


	31. Chapter 31

Harry and Ginny apperated near The Three Broomsticks.

"I've heard Madame Rosmerta gave up her pub," Ginny said softly as her and Harry walked past the bar that looked far less cheerful than Harry had remembered. "I think it's run by someone from the Ministry now."

Harry, feeling very thankful that Hogwarts students still were not allowed in the village, pulled out his wand. "I'll send word up the Neville to meet us at the front gates." He pulled out his wand, and a beautiful silver stag emitted from the tip and ran up towards the castle.

"So," Harry said, stowing his wand back in his pocket, but keeping his hand curled around it. "How exactly do you plan on getting Slughorn to talk to us? Do _you _have any better ideas other than winging it?"

"Well, no," Ginny admitted. "But you do have to admit, I'm a fair bit better at making stories up on the spot than you are."

"From growing up with six brothers, I assume?" Harry grinned.

"Yes," she nodded. "They used to catch me coming back from the broom shed in the middle of the nights, after I would take their brooms out for a ride. Had to think pretty quickly to keep them from finding out what I was up to. Besides, as much as Slughorn loves you, he loves seeing the two of us together. Don't you remember the five minute speech he gave at our wedding?"

"Ah, right," Harry agreed. "Still haven't completely forgiven Ron for accidentally letting the date of our wedding slip to him."

"Well either way," Ginny said. "I think the two of us will have better luck persuading him than just you."

"Yeah, you're probably right," Harry nodded. "I wonder what it could be that he's so ashamed of."

"Well this is the man who pretty much told Voldemort how he could conquer immortality," Ginny reminded him.

"Yes, but Claridina doesn't seem to want to become immortal," harry sighed. "At least not right now..."

When they reached the gates to the school, Neville was waiting for them.

"I was surprised to see your patronus, just let McGonagall know that you're here," Neville said, letting Harry and Ginny in. "What are you doing here at the school? You two don't have guard duty here today, do you?"

"No," Harry replied. "We wanted to speak to Slughorn."

Neville frowned. "He's-He's been a bit off since term started."

"Hensworth said he wouldn't let him search his office," Ginny said.

"No, he wouldn't," Neville said. "But lately he's been a bit...out of character."

"How so?" Harry inquired.

"Less energy," Neville shrugged. "Hasn't even tried soliciting any first years for his Slug Club yet. He says he's sick, but well..."

"Hopefully if he's sick, he'll be easier to question," Harry said. "Is he in his office?"

"I'd assume so," Neville nodded. "I'd walk you up, but I've got to go check on some mandrakes I'm going to have my second years work with tomorrow. Stop by on your way out, we can have some drinks in my office, see if Hagrid like'd to join us?"

"Yeah, we will," Harry told him.

"Slughorn's sick?" Ginny mumbled as her and Harry set off towards the castle as Neville headed towards the greenhouses.

"Making himself sick, I'd say," Harry said. "That attack from Draco over the summer frightened him. I'm surprised he returned to Hogwarts so easily, but I reckon he realized he's not going to get better protection anywhere else and-"

He stopped talking and looked over his shoulder at the Forbidden Forest. He could've sworn he heard what sounded like footsteps, but there was no one there. He suddenly felt very pleased with the decision he made to refrain from passing his Invisibility Cloak onto James just yet.

Him and Ginny entered the castle, which was empty, save for the few ghosts that were drifting around the entrance hall. They made their way to Slughorn's office, which was shut, but Harry saw a light shining from the crack under the door. He knocked, and it was nearly a full moment before Slughorn answered.

"Come in, come in!" Slughorn called from his office.

Harry opened the door and was hit almost immediately by a very strong scent that appeared to be coming from the many cauldrons Slughorn had set up all over his office.

"Excuse me, please!" a small house elf squeaked, hurrying past Harry and Ginny. Harry noticed she was holding many empty potion bottles.

"Harry Potter?" Horace Slughorn coughed, standing up from his desk. "And the lovely Mrs...to-to what do I owe this surprise?"

Harry stole a look at Ginny, who seemed to be just as shocked by Slughorn's appearance as he was. He looked as though he had lost a lot of weight, and his face seemed worn and beaten.

"We thought we'd stop by and see you, professor," Ginny said, trying to mask her surprise at his current state. "Neville told us you've been feeling a bit under the weather, and we just wanted to make sure it was nothing too serious. Dragon Pox has been resurfacing a bit, and not to sound rude, but if you were to catch it at your age..."

"Yes of course, it wouldn't be too good, now would it?" Slughorn said tiredly, his voice missing its usual spark.

"I've heard things have gotten a lot more straining here at the school for you teachers," Harry said. "You've got the new security to deal with, parents constantly trying to check up on their kids...then I hear they're trying to search all of the offices..."

"That they are, Harry," he sighed. "That new fellow, Quipps replacement, he had orders to check everyones office, but he wouldn't say from who! Now I don't care if McGonagall herself gave the order, I still have my rights, don't I?"

"Of course you do," Ginny said smoothly. "Even though you have nothing to hide, right?"

"Right," Slughorn said quickly.

"But surely you're not against all the new security," Harry said slowly. "You'd want to be protected best you can. Especially seeing as what happened to you over the summer."

"Yes, yes, I do, I certainly don't protest _that_," Slughorn said.

"It's curious, though," Harry continued. "We never figured out why Claridina sent Draco Malfoy after you like that."

"I-I thought you said it was because I was a teacher here," Slughorn said.

"It's a possibility," Harry nodded. "Of course, she never tried to get to any of the other professors, did she?"

"Well, no, I-"

"I'd say, Horace," Ginny said softly. "That she wanted you for some specific reason."

"Specific reason?" Slughorn repeated. "Why now that's preposterous! Absolutely absurd!"

"Is it though?" she continued to press on. "We all know that you're just about the most celebrated potions master in the world."

"Yes, and Claridina's particularly gifted with potions," Harry nodded. "Perhaps she wanted to-"

"You must leave now," Slughorn said, standing up. "Out. Now. I-I don't mean to be rude, but I really do have things to attend to in the castle-"

"But if you're sick, Horace," Ginny said. "You really shouldn't be busying yourself."

"What I do around the castle is my business!" Slughorn said fiercely, a hint of defense in his voice. "Now you really must go. And-And perhaps it would be best for all of us if you were not to come back until I've regained a bit of my health back."

"Are you-?" Harry started, but Slughorn walked across the office and opened the door.

"Leave," he said firmly.

And Harry and Ginny had no choice but to comply


	32. Chapter 32

"Well, that was unproductive," Ginny sighed as her and Harry closed Slughorn's office door behind them.

"Shame I never got the hang of Legilimency," Harry said. "Although Dumbledore _did _tell me Slughorn was good at Occlumency back when we were trying to get his memory about Voldemort."

"Neville sure wasn't exaggerating when he said Slughorn's been out of character," Ginny said. "I've never seen him stay in his seat less than a minute when you've been in the room. Whatever he's keeping from us must really be eating away at him."

"Are you two finished talking to Slughorn already?"

Harry and Ginny turned around and saw Neville walking towards them with Hagrid behind him.

"Wasn't exactly keen to talk to us," Harry explained. "Threw us out the moment we started to get somewhere. 'Lo, Hagrid."

"Haven't seen yer two in ages, it seems," Hagrid said, pulling Harry and Ginny into a bone crushing hug. "How have yer been?"

"Just busy with the Order," Ginny said, trying to breath through Hagrid's hug.

"My office is right over here," Neville said as Hagrid released the couple. "Have time for a nightcap?"

"Yes, thanks," Harry nodded as he followed Neville down the corridor.

"Sorry about the mess," Neville said, referring to the many flowerpots with strange and exotic looking plants all over the office. "So, Slughorn didn't want to talk to you, did he?"

"Not at all," Ginny replied, taking the glass of wine he handed her.

"Only thing he really seemed willing to talk about was how upset he was that Hensworth was trying to search his office," Harry said.

"Ruddy old fool's been talkin' about that all afternoon," Hagrid said darkly. "Finally had to tell him ter shut his mouth in the staff lounge..."

"McGonagall's not happy with that," Neville said. "Said that she'll be having a word with him tomorrow, tell him that if he wishes to stay at the school, he'd best learn to live with the new security. Of course, Slughorn doesn't know that Hensworth is in the Order, though I don't know if that would make him any more willing to open up his office."

"But surely Slughorn would've hidden anything he didn't want anybody to see very well," Ginny pointed out.

"Well I'm sure he has now," Neville said. "But Hensworth caught him off guard. Speaking of Hensworth, though, I was talking to him after dinner. He didn't find anything in any of the offices he did search."

"That's a relief, I'd say," Harry said. "But then we still don't know who it is that's passing information along to Claridina."

"But who can it be if it's not a teacher?" Hagrid frowned.

"Exactly the problem; I have no idea," Harry sighed.

"You think it could be something along the lines of what Voldemort did to put Barty Crouch junior in here? Back when you were in your fourth year?" Ginny suggested.

"You mean polyjuice potion?" Harry asked.

"Yes," Ginny said, lowering her voice to a whisper. "Maybe...maybe one of the teachers is, you know, just impersonating someone again?"

"Can't be," Neville said at once. "McGonagall thought of that; had us all checked for any signs of taking that potion before the term started, and everyone turned up clean."

"Well then the only other possibility would be if she's using a student," Ginny said.

"You mean like one of her followers children?" Neville asked.

"I'm sure there's enough o' them in here," Hagrid mumbled.

"No," Harry said slowly. "No...I don't think she'd trust someone like that. I think that, if she was going to be using a student, that she'd only trust someone she's very connected with..."

"Well, that would only be her son," Neville said. "But you know he didn't come back this year."

Ginny glanced over at Harry, suddenly understanding.

"Yes, I know that," Harry said. "Neville, do you think you could bring down a student from Gryffindor for me?"

"Um, yeah, I suppose," he nodded. "Who? James? Al?"

"No," Harry shook his head. "Alexandra Dursley."

"Alexandra?" Neville repeated. "Why?"

"I-I just need to ask her something," Harry said quickly. "Can you get her for me?"

"Er, alright," Neville frowned. "I'll be back with her in just a moment."


	33. Chapter 33

Alexandra hurried back into the castle. She knew the potion was beginning to wear off, for she could now begin to see her hands and arms, thought they were still slightly faded. She just hoped she could get back to the common room before anybody saw her.

Luckily, she made her way up to the common room without meeting anyone on the way, and as she took a moment to catch her breath by the portrait of the fat lady, she noticed that her body was now fully visible again.

"Ingenious," Alexandra said to the fat lady, straightening her robes.

"Yes, it is, isn't it," the fat lady replied, swinging open for her.

The common room fairly empty, only older students already piled under homework after the first day of classes remained hunched over books. Alexandra spotted Alanna and Fred and walked over to them.

"How was your potions lesson?" Alanna asked as Alexandra sat down next to her.

"Oh, all right, I suppose," Alexandra said.

"Don't know why he would say you need extra lessons and not that Fabian bloke in my dorm," Fred said. "He nearly melted his cauldron today!"

"Slughorn will probably give him lessons on another night," Alanna said. "Mind you, though, I'm surprised he helped Alexandra tonight, seeing as how horrible he looked in class. Did he look any better?"

"Er, a bit," Alexandra replied. "Did you manage to finish that Herbology essay?" She wanted to steer the conversation away from her fictional potions lesson.

"Yes, this book helped me a lot," Alanna said, handing her a textbook. "Especially the chapter on-"

Suddenly, the portrait door swung open again and Neville walked in.

"Alexandra," he said, stopping by the table her and others were gathered around. "I'd like you to come with me, please."

Alexandra frowned. What could this be about? Unless...had Neville seen her coming back up?

"Um, okay," Alexandra nodded. "But-But what for, professor?"

"Just a word," Neville said, smiling reassuringly at her.

Exchanging confused glances with Fred and Alanna, Alexandra left them for the second time that night and followed Neville back out of the common room.

Her heart was thundering against her chest. If Neville _had _seen her coming back up from the forest, what possible excuse could she give as to why she was out past the curfew? She knew she couldn't feed him the same story of extra potions lessons as she did Alanna, for he could simply walk on down to Slughorn's office and ask him to confirm this. And while Slughorn did like her, Alexandra was sure that he wouldn't lie to a teacher for her.

Her mind still racing, she didn't even notice where she was going until Neville stopped outside of his office and opened the door.

After she stepped inside, Alexandra received another shock; Harry and Ginny were in there, as well as Hagrid! Alexandra now knew something was going on. Perhaps Harry really _did _look back after her on her way into the forest and he had figured out who she was and had gone and told Professor Longbottom!

"Would you like some privacy then?" Neville asked Harry.

"If you don't mind," Harry nodded.

"Right then," Neville said. He turned to Ginny and Hagrid. "You can stay in here, or there's an empty classroom right next door."

"No, I don't want to kick you out of your office," Harry said, getting to his feet. "We'll use the classroom...Alexandra, would you mind coming with me, please? I have some things I'd like to talk to you about."

Alexandra felt her stomach clench. Now she was sure Harry knew. Slowly, she nodded and followed Harry out of the office into the small classroom next door.

"So," Harry said, waving his wand so that dark classroom lit up. "Have a good first day of term?"

"It was good," Alexandra nodded, wishing Harry would just get the worst over with. "Er, exactly what is you wanted to talk to me about?"

"Well," Harry sighed, leaning against one of the desks. "As I'm sure you've figured out, Claridina wants the school now more than ever, after she failed to get it last year."

Alexandra remained silent.

"The Order's figured out that Claridina is trying to take the school by using an inside informant to help her," Harry continued.

Alexandra tried to look surprised by this news; after all, James wasn't supposed to have told her any of this already.

"We've already determined that she's not using one of the teachers," Harry told her. "Which means that logically, we'd assume she's using a student."

Alexandra continued to remain silent.

"As you've probably already seen," Harry said, lowering his voice. "Her son is not here anymore. Claridina wouldn't trust this task to just a child of one of her followers. We believe she'd only trust someone with whom she has a, for lack of a better term, connection with."

"Me?" Alexandra finally spoke.

"Yes," Harry said softly.

Alexandra studied his face. There was no accusation in his voice. He wasn't blaming her for anything. On the contrary, she saw pity in his eyes. It was just as Rolwat had told her in the forest; he really did see her as the victim, not the enemy.

"Has Claridina contacted you since your last encounter with her?" Harry asked.

"No," she said at once.

"She hasn't sent you any owls?" Harry asked.

"No." Technically, she thought. That wasn't a lie. Rolwat had been the one who sent the owl earlier that day.

"She hasn't given you any indication that she'd be asking you pass her information during the term?"

"I haven't talked to her since the last time," Alexandra whispered, desperately avoiding Harry's gaze.

"You're positive?"

"Yes."

Harry stared at her for a moment, and Alexandra got the uncomfortable feeling that he was trying to determine whether there was any truth to those statements.

"Okay," he said finally. "That's all I wanted to talk to you about. You'll be sure to let me know the second she contacts you again?"

"Uh-huh," Alexandra said, feeling as though a great weight had been lifted from her chest.

He didn't know about her meeting with Rolwat.

"Good," Harry said. "You should probably head on back up to the common room. If anyone stops you, tell them to come down to Professor Longbottom's office."

"Right," Alexandra nodded. She made to leave, but before she left the room, she turned back to Harry.

"Do-Do the teachers know now?"

"About you and Claridina?" Harry asked knowingly.

"Yes."

"No," Harry told her. "They don't."

"You mean you haven't even told Hagrid? Or-Or McGonagall?" she asked in disbelief. She was sure that if Harry had thought Claridina was using her to spy on the school, he would've informed the teachers, even after he gave her his word he'd keep that information secret.

"Nope," Harry said.

"I-um, well, thanks," Alexandra mumbled. "Good night, then."

She hurried out of the office, feeling rather embarrassed, but at the same time, touched.


	34. Chapter 34

"I'll bet since he's an Auror, he'll teach us all sorts of really brutal spells," Fred said excitedly, spreading marmalade over a piece of toast. "My dad told me when an ex-Auror taught while he was here, he showed them all of the Unforgivable Curses! Mind you, he did turn out to be one of Voldemort's Death Eaters in disguise..."

The Gryffindor fourth years were to have their first Defense Against the Dark Arts class with Hensworth at last, and all morning, Fred, Alexandra and Alanna had been discussing what the class might be like.

"Do you think he'll tell us what it was like being an Auror?" Alanna asked. "That could be really interesting, don't you think?"

"I hope he doesn't spend half of the lesson going on about the theory of a spell, before we get to try it," Alexandra said. "Like Quipps did. He was a good teacher and all, but he _did _like to talk."

"Albus and Rose had the class yesterday," James said, as him and Louis joined the three.

"What did they say it was like?" Fred asked eagerly.

"Said he's much more intense than Quipps," Louis replied. "But that's all they would say. Blimey, you don't reckon he actually _showed _them Dark magic? How cool would that be?"

"Well, seeing it first hand _would _be helpful, I suppose," Alanna nodded. "It would really show us what we're up against."

"Dad told us that Hensworth was his best Auror, back before Claridina took over the Ministry," James said, lowering his voice to a whisper. "Said that he never let any Dark witches or wizards get by him. He's was an Auror back before dad even came to Hogwarts!"

"That long?" Alexandra frowned.

"Yup," James nodded. "Dad used to even go to Kingsley and ask why he hadn't been made head of the department. But Kingsley would always say that Hensworth would refuse point blank. And he did, when dad talked to him about. I guess Hensworth just likes fighting Dark wizards. Doesn't want the responsibility of managing hundreds of Aurors."

"I thought you didn't really like him, though," Louis pointed out.

"It's not that I don't _like _him," James mumbled. "It's just that, well, he's a bit odd, don't you think? I mean, he sort of just sulked around the headquarters this summer when he wasn't off doing stuff for the Order."

"Yeah, well, he's probably all battle worn and what not," Fred shrugged. He looked at his watch. "Come on, let's go wait for the class to start."

"You want to get to a class _early_?" Alanna asked in disbelief.

"Don't you want good seats?" Fred asked.

"Well, yes," she nodded. "You coming, Alexandra?"

"Yes," Alexandra said, taking one last swing of juice. She too was anxious to see what the class was like. She knew that if Harry, who she had always heard was the best Auror in the business, had put such faith into Hensworth, he had to be an extraordinary wizard.

It seemed that a few other students had the same idea as the three as well, for when they reached the classroom, there was already a small group waiting outside.

"I heard from Gloria Bunker in Hufflepuff that Hensworth said he'd be teaching them on a level very near the standards they have at the Auror office!" said Madeline Baker from Ravenclaw, whose house would be with Gryffindor for the period.

"Bunker's in N.E.W.T. classes, though," Fred pointed out. "He wouldn't be doing that sort of stuff with fourth-years...would he?"

Before anybody had a chance to reply, though, the classroom door opened slowly, and Hensworth himself appeared, and the chatter died down at once.

"Enter, come now," he said briskly to his students. "Quickly, please. I don't waste time in my class, so do not drag your feet!"

Fred, Alexandra and Alanna snagged a row of desks right at the front of the class, and everyone began taking out their textbooks.

"Put those away, for the time being," Hensworth said, walking to the front of the class. "Wands out. Now," he turned so he was facing all of his pupils. "As many of you already seem to know, I am a retired Auror. I assure you, however, that I am not retired because my abilities have faltered. Had it not been for a recent...change in government, I would certainly still be working with the Ministry of Magic, and not here teaching you. Do not take that to mean that while I am here, for however long, that I will not be lax or lenient about your performances in this class. The teachings of defensive magic has always been important for me, and it would be very foolish for any of you, especially in light of recent events, to not put all of your effort into what I teach you."

He paused for a moment to let his words sink in.

"Now that we've gotten those...pleasantries out of the way," he said, pulling out his own wand. "We will begin. Who knows the most common form of defensive magic used by wizards today?"

Alanna's hand shot into the air.

"Yes...Ms. Broklyn," Hensworth said, looking down at his roster.

"Stunning," Alanna replied. "Because it's very effective, but it won't land you in Azkaban."

"Very good," he said approvingly. "Take five points for Gryffindor. Yes, Stunning is very useful. Of course, you'll find that it is used mainly by those wizards who aren't prepared to kill, or do not wish to do so. Once a wizard is in a very serious duel, where it is undoubtably a life or death situation and a nice stunning spell won't get the job done, then the killing curses will start to fly, but more on that later. Like I said, stunning is very useful, and it will be the first thing I teach you. It's very advanced for your age. I reckon by the end of the class, maybe one or two people will have made any progress."

"Shows just how Dark Claridina's son was, doesn't it?" Fred murmured to Alexandra and Alanna. "Remember the bloke knew how to stun me in our first year?"

"Is there something you'd like to share with the class, Mr. Weasley?" Hensworth asked firmly, glaring at Fred.

Fred shook his head, his face turning red.

"I didn't think so," Hensworth said shortly. "Before you divide up into pairs, I'd like to give you a bit of insight into the spell. Stunning will not always work, if your target possesses non-human magical powers. Can anybody give me any instances?"

He looked around the class, but this time, even Alanna's hand stayed down.

"Inferi!" Hensworth snarled. "Giants! Certain breeds of werewolves! Try stunning any of those, and you'll be out of luck."

Alexandra slowly rose her hand. "Professor? What exactly are inferi?"

"Ah, yes...Ms. Dursely," Hensworth nodded. "I was hoping somebody would ask that...An Inferius is an enchanted corpse that a Dark witch or wizard animates to do his or her bidding."

Alexandra saw many disgusted faces among the students.

"You mean," Grace Macmillan, cringed. "They're dead bodies that walk around?"

"Correct," Hensworth nodded. "However, they still are just that; dead bodies. They cannot think or act for themselves. They are completely controlled by the Dark witch or wizard. Lord Voldemort used them frequently during his reign."

Alexandra rose her hand again. "Has...Has Clari-"

"Claridina Wretermoust is suspected of using them, yes," he answered. "At least we are assuming, since she used them during her early years. But back to what I was saying. You cannot stun Inferi, or any of the other creatures I mentioned. Also, most skilled wizards can easily block a stunning spell. Yet it is still essential for you to master the spell! All spells have counter curses and blocks, but they are all still worth knowing! Now, partner up! It's time you take a crack at stunning."


	35. Chapter 35

"Bloody hell," Fred muttered as him and the rest of the fourth-year students filed out of their Defense Against the Dark Arts class. "Al and Rose weren't kidding when they said that class was intense!"

"I never thought Stunning would be that difficult," Alanna said. "Alexandra was the only one who actually managed to do something."

True, Alexandra was the only one in the entire class who managed to make any progress with her Stunning. She hadn't exactly stunned her partner, Alanna, but she did make Alanna fly into a set of bookshelves across the classroom.

"Sorry about that," Alexandra said as Alanna massaged her sore shoulder.

"Oh, it's okay," Alanna said. "So, what did you guys think of Hensworth?"

"Definitely a nutter," Fred said.

"He knows what he's talking about, though," Alexandra said.

"Well, yeah," Fred nodded. "But he seems sort of...paranoid, don't you think?"

"But Fred, you know how serious this is right now," Alanna said. "He was right, telling us that we need to learn to defend ourselves. But what frightened me the most from what Hensworth said," Alanna said, lowering her voice. "Is the sound of those Inferi. Dead bodies that walk around? I don't know what I would do if I came across one of those."

"Well, let's just hope we never do," Alexandra said.

"Hey, Fred, Alanna," James said, catching up to the three. "Quidditch practice after lessons today, have you heard?"

"No, but hey, I'll have a chance to show off that Wonski Feit I've been working on all summer!" Fred said excitedly.

"But we have so much homework," Alanna sighed.

"Eh, who cares? We have a free period all morning tomorrow, we'll do it then," Fred shrugged.

"Lucky you," James said. "I've got about two feet on goblin trials to do tonight. Plus, I've only just realized I left my Defense Against the Dark Arts book at home."

"You can always borrow someone's from your year," Alexandra told him. "I doubt you'd be able to get an owl home in time."

"Nah, I don't need to," James replied. "My dad's on guard duty here today. I ran over and asked him to give my book to Louis's dad, who's going to be here tomorrow on duty, so I can get it from him then. One of the only perks there are about having your parents constantly at the school...I haven't been able to do anything! I couldn't even use all of my dungbombs the other day because I was too worried McGonagall would rat me out to my mum or dad while they were here!"

"It's rough, mate," Louis nodded. "Not only is Claridina seeking to rule the wizarding world, she's also putting an end to our mischief making as well."

"Hold on," Alexandra said slowly. "So you're dad...he's here now?"

She remembered Rolwat's warning. She had until the end of the month to give her mother more information about Harry. She knew she was going to have to start working on this soon. As much as it would pain her, she knew she didn't have any other choice, if she wished to stay alive.

"Yeah, why?" James asked.

"Just wondering," she said quickly. "Is-Is here for the rest of the night?"

"Until midnight, I think," James shrugged.

Until midnight...she could easily slip down to the grounds while the others were at Quidditch practice. But to do what? She had to think of something.

For the rest of the afternoon, the gears in Alexandra's mind spun wildly. She was torn between feeling frustrated that she was having so much trouble coming up with something and satisfied with the fact that plotting against Harry seemed to be coming far from easy to her.

"I _really _hope practice doesn't go long," Alanna said as her, Fred and James gathered their brooms and Quidditch gear.

"Well who's the new captain?" Alexandra asked. "Savannah Wood left last year, didn't she?"

"Yes, she did," Alanna nodded. "And she made Daniel, the Seeker, captain."

"Hopefully the bloke will be a bit more lax than Wood was," Fred mumbled. "What are you going to do tonight, Alexandra?"

"Oh, I reckon I'll just start on some homework," Alexandra replied quickly.

"Leave it out for me, if you finish, will you?" Fred said.

"Fred, that's cheating," Alanna said, rolling her eyes.

"I'll change some things around," Fred said. "Now come on, we wouldn't want to be late."

Alexandra watched as her friends hurried out of the common room. She knew that if she wanted to head down to the grounds and find Harry, she'd best leave now, if she were to be back up by curfew, especially since she didn't have the invisibility potion this time.

So with some trepidation, Alexandra set off to the grounds. The sky was just beginning to darken, so she could still see her surroundings fairly well.

She spotted Harry standing by the school gates. Hoping that if she talked to Harry long enough, he'd let slip something to her eventually, Alexandra began to run towards him. She stopped in her tracks though.

She saw Teddy Lupin suddenly come over to him, and he had a grave expression on his face. It looked as if they were discussing something serious. Perhaps serious enough to be about the Order, or their plans about Claridina.

Quickly, before either Teddy or Harry caught sight of her, Alexandra ducked into some nearby bushes, and strained her ears to hear what the two men were saying.


	36. Chapter 36

Teddy Lupin leaned against a tree near the opening of the Forbidden Forest. As happy as he was that he was being included in the Order, he had to admit that all of the guarding was getting a bit tiring.

Suddenly, Teddy heard something stirring behind him in the forest. Wand out, he spun around, expecting to see some sort of creature, but but instead he saw nothing. He frowned. He was sure he had heard _something_. Wand still held high, Teddy took a few steps into the forest. There didn't _appear _to be anything or anyone here, but he still couldn't shake the feeling that somewhere, from within the forest, someone was watching him...

And then his nostrils filled with the sent of rotting flesh. Covering his nose with his free hand, Teddy continued to look around. Then, he glanced down at the ground and saw what looked like hoof prints. Getting onto his knees for a better look, Teddy lowered his wand and shone the light onto the forest floor. There were definitely prints, and they seemed to suddenly stop at a small area a few yards away from him.

Curious, Teddy slowly stepped towards the spot where the prints stopped. The smell of rotting flesh was becoming unbearably strong now, and his eyes were beginning to water. Then, he heard breathing. Rugged and sharp, and it sounded as if it was coming from a very large creature.

And then Teddy knew that this creature had to be a Thestral. But...there was something wrong. He had been around Thestrals before. They never gave him such...such shivers up and down his spine. And they never wreaked of death this much either.

And then it hit him. These _weren't _ordinary Thestrals.

Backing away slowly, his wand pointing right at where he suspected the creature to be, Teddy exited the forest as quickly as possible. What would one of the Thestrals Claridina had used months ago be doing at the school?

"Harry!" He spotted his godfather by the school gates.

"Teddy?" Harry said, turning around to face him. "You're supposed to be-"

"Harry," Teddy said gravely. "I-I think one of those Thestrals Claridina used to attack Dudley Dursley and all those others last year is in the forest."

"What? Are you sure?" Harry frowned. "How could you tell, you can't see them?"

"I-I just got the feeling," Teddy told him. "It wasn't like one of the normal Thestrals, it just seemed more...evil. Do-Do you think that if just came here from her hideout in Hungary on its own? Or that it came with someone."

"It could've just flown here, looking for food or something like that," Harry muttered. "Or...come on, show me where you found it."

The two men where about to head to the forest, when they suddenly heard a rustle coming from a nearby bush.

Harry turned, and was about to approach the bush, but before he could, he heard a loud voice.

"Harry! Harry, there you are!"

"Hagrid?" Harry said, spotting the large man running down from the castle, taking enormous strides. "Excellent, we could really use you right now. Teddy reckons he spotted one of Claridina's Thestrals in the forest. Do you-"

"Harry, yer gonna need to get up to the castle right away," Hagrid said, panting.

"Why? What's wrong?" Teddy asked. "Has a student been hurt?"

"Yes, it's-it's James," Hagrid said.

Harry gripped his wand. "What happened?"

"I'm not sure on that," Hagrid said. "I was just coming back from dinner when Neville ran into me, told me that James had been hurt and to go an' get you from the grounds. Said to take ya' up ter the Hospital Wing."

All the thoughts of Thestrals vanished from Harry's mind as he hurried up to the castle with Teddy and Hagrid at his heels.

...

Alexandra crouched down in the bushes, wishing desperately that she would've thought to bring an Extendable Ear with her. She could scarcely make out a word they were saying...something about Thestrals and Hungary?

Just as she was beginning to feel as if this whole endeavor had been a waste of time, when she accidentally let her foot slip, causing her to fall against the bush, making a rustling noise.

She knew Teddy and Harry had heard it; they looked right towards her bush, and were coming over.

But then she heard loud pounding footsteps.

"Harry!"

It was Hagrid! Harry and Teddy stopped approaching the bush and were now talking to Hagrid, whose voice was much louder than Harry and Teddy's, so she was able to make out what he was saying.

He told them a student had been hurt...that it had been James!

Alexandra held back a gasp. James had been hurt? How? It-It couldn't have anything to do with Claridina, could it?

_No_, she told herself firmly. _It had to have been just an accident..._

Harry seemed to have forgotten about the bush, at least, as him, Hagrid and Teddy all hurried up to the castle. She was just about to get out of the bush and follow them up herself, when something caught her eye.

Standing at the mouth of the forest stood a small house elf. As she squinted, she realized it was the same house elf who she had seen on her first day back in Slughorn's classroom. Before she had time to imagine what on earth one of the Hogwarts house elves could be doing out on the grounds, the elf raised one long finger, and beckoned to her.


	37. Chapter 37

Alexandra stared at the small elf, still beckoning to her. Slowly, she got to her feet and walked towards it.

"You is Alexandra Dursley?" it said in a squeaky voice. But even through that squeaky voice, Alexandra still noted a trace of hostility; something she had never heard in any of the other Hogwarts elves. There was something else off about the eyes. True, they were big and round, just like the other house elves, but these eyes seemed to have a fire in them.

"You _is_ Alexandra Dursley," the elf said again, this time, more of a statement than a question.

"Why are you asking?" she asked softly.

The elf did not respond, but turned and walked deeper into the forest. Alexandra assumed she was supposed to follow.

"Why are you out on the grounds?" Alexandra asked, running to catch up. "I didn't think house elves ever left the castle."

"We house elves go where our masters is telling us to be going," the elf said simply.

"Your master?" Alexandra frowned. "You mean one of the teachers sent you here?"

"Avren's master is not being a teacher."

"Who-who is your master then?" Alexandra asked shakily, though she felt she might've already known the answer.

"I am."

Alexandra whirled around and saw Rolwat standing next to one of Claridina's large Thestrals.

"You?" Alexandra exclaimed. "But you're not supposed to be back for another month!"

"I haven't forgotten our conversation," Rolwat assured her. "But it seems rude that I did not give you any means of assistance for your task the last time I was here. Which is why I thought I'd introduce you to Avren here." He nodded over to the elf.

"Assistance?" Alexandra repeated. "You mean the elf, Avren, is supposed to help me find information about Harry?"

"He will do whatever you tell him," Rolwat said. "I thought it might be...convenient for you to have an extra mind helping you."

Alexandra pondered this. Yes, it probably would be helpful, and make success far easier to come by, but again, did she even _want _success? Yes, she wanted to stay alive, but she didn't want to play a hand in Harry's death either. But she once again knew she had no choice.

"How will I find him if I need him?" Alexandra whispered, not daring to look her brother in the eye.

"Say his name," Rolwat said simply. "But make sure you are alone. Now, Avren does have other responsibilities he must tend to, for mother, that is, but I daresay that he'll make time for you."

Alexandra's head jerked up. "Your mother controls him as well?"

"Yes, he's a family elf," Rolwat nodded. "But don't you get any ideas about trying to use him against mother and I. He's been given the strictest orders not take any commands from you other than those relating to the Vow."

"But then he must be her informant!" Alexandra said.

To her surprise, Rolwat laughed. "Mother would not trust her plans to get the school entirely in the hands of an elf, no matter how loyal it is to her."

"But then what responsibilities-"

"I've told you before, perhaps once you've proven yourself more devoted, you'll be trusted with more secrets," Rolwat said shortly. "Now, its been nearly ten minutes. Soon Potter will realize that as he rushed to his sons bedside, he left the grounds unguarded, and will send the werewolf's son back-"

"How do you know about James?" Alexandra asked, her voice rising. "You didn't-It was you! You hurt James! Why? What did you do to him?"

"Certain measures had to be taken to make sure we could talk to you in private without any of Potter's nosey pals butting in," Rolwat said. "It was most difficult to refrain from attacking them, the poor Thestral could hardly resist himself when the idiot spawn of the werewolf came wandering in, but we wanted people away from the forest, not rushing into it. So in the end, I had Avren arrange for an...accident to occur."

"You-you're-" Alexandra said angrily, glaring at the elf.

"Avren got most joy from watching the brat of wizard who works to take down my mistress hurt. He bled and cried...oh yes," Avren said cruelly.

"You're a monster!" Alexandra spat. She turned back to Rolwat, who was climbing onto the Thestral again. "Is he alive? James?"

"They'll save him," Rolwat said coldly. "If a student dies, especially Potter's son, McGonagall would close the school, and that would be the last thing mother would want. But don't worry," he flashed a cruel grin. "There will be plenty of time for such fun later on."

...

**AN-Thanks so much to all of you who have been supporting this story and the previous ones for so long. I really appreciate it. Unfortunately, I'm now leaving for college, and updates will be harder for me to do. I am by no means discontinuing this story, though. Updates will probably just be only once a week now. Thank you again for your support of this story!**

**And the name of the house elf, Avren, came from Hailstorm234, whose stories I strongly recommend everyone check out if you're interested in seeing a bit more of Claridina**


	38. Chapter 38

Harry raced up the staircase towards the Hospital Wing. He saw a clad of students, many of them carrying broomsticks, outside the closed doors. Without wasting time to knock, Harry barged right in, Teddy and Hagrid at his heel.

"I've told you lot a dozen times!" Madam Pomfrey said, bending over one of the beds. "Stay out of the-Oh, Potter. Didn't realize-"

"What happened?" Harry asked, staring down at his eldest son, whose upper half of his body was covered in blood. James's eyes were closed and he was as still as Harry could ever remember seeing him.

"Bludger accident," Madam Pomfrey sighed, dabbing James's wounds with a cloth soaked in potion. "Though the fall did most of the damage. His cousin said he must've fell forty feet."

"Will he be okay, though?" Harry asked.

"He'll be very sore for at least two weeks," Madam Pomfrey replied. "He's lost a lot of blood, he'll need a replenishing potion at least twice a day for some time. He's not going to be leaving this hospital wing under my care for a _long _while. But yes, he'll recover."

Harry breathed a sigh of relief.

"Bludger accident, though?" Teddy frowned. "James has been playing quidditch for years and he's always been real good at avoiding them."

"Yes, well, Mr. Weasley claimed that the bludger seemed more attracted to Mr. Potter here than any of the other players," Madam Pomfrey said. "Said it didn't leave his side for nearly the entire practice."

"Fred said that?" Harry asked.

"Yes, something like that," she nodded, continuing to treat James's wounds. "Now, I understand that you're concerned about James, but I must ask you to please leave the wing. I need to concentrate on healing him."

"When will you been done?" Harry asked anxiously.

"Within the hour, I'll send word to you then," Madam Pomfrey assured him.

With one last look at James, who, despite already nearing Harry in height, seemed very small in that hospital bed.

"Teddy, Hagrid," Harry said as the three headed towards the doors. "You need to get back down to the grounds."

"No way, we want to hear when James is okay!" Teddy protested.

"Someone needs to be guarding the grounds," Harry said firmly. "I'll wait up here and let you know when Madam Pomfrey is done tending to James. Send a Patronus to Ginny and explain what happened." He turned to Hagrid. "Hagrid, Teddy reckons he came across one of Claridina's Thestrals in the forest. We were just about to go investigate when you came and told us about James. Can you go search in there and see if you come across anything?"

"All right," Hagrid said, drying a few tears from his eyes. "But if any o' her Thestrals got in here, the Hogwarts one's would be putting up one tough fight."

As they left the wing, Harry looked over at the crowd of students still grouped outside the door. He spotted Fred, looking very shaken, standing next to the girl he recognized as Alanna.

"Fred!" he said, making his way through the sea of students.

Fred looked up. "Uncle Harry! We don't know what happened! Is James okay? Is he-"

"Madam Pomfrey says James will be fine in time," Harry said. "And she said you told her that the bludger seemed to be going after James more than anyone else?"

"Y-Yeah," Fred nodded.

"It was really odd," Alanna spoke up. "Bludgers usually go after everyone, don't they? But this one seemed to be _targeting _James."

Harry frowned. That seemed oddly familiar…

"We barely managed to get hold of the thing after it hit James," Fred continued. "We all tried to slow him down before he hit the ground, but-but for some reason none of our spells worked. Not even Alanna's, and she used one that was OWL level."

"Where's the bludger now?" Harry asked urgently.

"Out in the trunk in the field still," Alanna replied.

"Right," Harry nodded. He quickly turned on his heel and ran back down the stairs.

_The bludger seemed to be targeting James…_It couldn't be the same thing…no.

Harry raced through the grounds towards the all too familiar Quidditch pitch.

"Harry!"

He looked back and saw Ginny running towards him, her long red hair flailing behind him. "What happened? I just got Teddy's patronus. Where's James?"

"Hospital wing," Harry said. "He's-He's hurt, but Madam Pomfrey's working on him. She won't let anyone up there now, though."

"How could a bludger accident cause that much injury?" Ginny frowned. "Broken bones are one thing, but from what Teddy said."

"Fred and his friend Alanna told me that the bludger was targeting him," Harry said gravely.

Ginny's eyes widened. "Like-Like how it targeted you in your second year?"

"I don't know," Harry said. They reached the Quidditch trunk and Harry opened it up.

One of the two bludgers was straining itself in it's compartment, trying desperately to get out of its holding.

"The bludger that attacked me," Harry mumbled. "Was enchanted by Dobby's magic. I don't know any spells that a wizard could've used to make the bludger act like that. The bludgers usually have a ton of charms on them to prevent other teams from jinxing them to go after their competition."

"Yes, but what house elf would want to attack James?" Ginny pointed out.

"I don't know, it might not have even been a house elf," Harry said. "But there's one way to find out…Kreacher!"

There was a loud crack and the wrinkled old house elf appeared at Ginny and Harry's sides.

"Master called for Kreacher?"

"Yes, Kreacher," Harry said, kneeling down to look the elf in the eye. "Would you be able to tell me if something had elf magic used on it?"

"House elves can always tell their own marks," Kreacher nodded.

"Brilliant," Harry said. "Can you take a look at that bludger-don't unstrap it- and tell me whether any elf tampered with it?"

"Of course Master Harry," the elf said. He knelt down, his nose almost touching the bludger, and examined it.

"Hmmm," he said after a moment. "Yes…Kreacher is most definitely sensing elf magic here."

"Would you be able to find the elf then?" Harry asked at once. "This elf, whoever he is, did this to hurt James, Kreacher."

"Kreacher is most worried for Master James," Kreacher said. "But Kreacher is afraid he cannot find the elf."

"But the elf must be at Hogwarts," Ginny pointed out. "Kreacher, can you keep an eye out then? For any elf that might've done this?"

"Kreacher will, Mistress," he said, bowing deeply.

"Come straight back to us when you find anything," Harry told him. "And don't let anyone else know what you're up to."

Kreacher nodded, understanding, and then with another crack, he was gone.

"But I don't understand," Ginny said softly. "Why would any house elf want to hurt James?"

"It's not the house elf that you want to be concerned about," Harry said. "It's the person controlling him that we need to worry about."

…

**AN-Just something interesting I found out that I thought you all would like to know. Apparently the snake that Harry sets free at the zoo in the first book is Nagini. I was told J.K. Rowling confirmed this, but it wasn't in the book, but I'm not positive. But if it is true…MIND BLOWN. **


	39. Chapter 39

News of James's Quidditch accident spread quickly throughout the school. Of course, the students only knew that James was hit by a bludger, and while it was uncommon for a player to be hurt that severely from a bludger, the explanation seemed reasonable enough to sit with everyone.

But Alexandra knew the truth. And she felt a pang of guilt every time she would accompany her friends up to the hospital wing to visit him.

"Daniel's holding try-outs for a replacer beater for our first game against Slytherin," Fred said one morning at breakfast, about a week after the accident.

"But that's not until next month," Alexandra pointed out. "James won't be able to fly by then?"

"Madam Pomfrey said no flying for at least two months," Alanna said.

"James is in a right state about that," Fred said.

"I'd imagine," Alexandra nodded.

"The only thing he's really happy about is that he gets to miss classes for a bit," Fred continued. "Although I reckon he's so bored up in the hospital wing that he'd prefer lessons at the moment."

Alexandra picked at her eggs, trying hard to ignore that guilty feeling that was now beginning to strengthen. Just then, Neville walked by, carrying a large plotted plant and his bag.

"Professor Longbottom, do you need any help?" Alanna asked, seeing that Neville was about to drop the plant.

"Thank you, but I reckon I've got it," Neville said. "Can't use magic to levitate these types of plants otherwise their growth patterns will-" But his bag had just slipped out of his grasp, and the contents spilled all over the floor.

Alexandra, Fred and Alanna all jumped up to help Neville gather up his belongings.

"At least this is the last Gore Mumgo that I need to carry in," Neville sighed. "Hagrid's been helping me bring them in, but Fang was feeling sick, so I told him I could manage the rest."

Alexandra picked up a pile of papers from the ground. She was about to hand them to Neville when she looked down at the sheet of parchment on the top. It was a letter.

From Harry.

Of course, she should've known that Harry would be in constant communication with the Order members at the school! But before Alexandra could get a chance to even glance at the body of the letter, Neville took the papers back.

"Thank you," he said to them, stuffing everything back in his bag. "Now then, I'll need to get this back out to the greenhouse. You'll be working with these this afternoon…"

"Well that plant didn't look to promising," Fred mumbled as Neville hurried off. "Did you see the size of it? It's huge! Plus I'm sure it's not very friendly either."

"Well if it's called the _Gore _Mumgo, I'd say no, it's not," Alanna agreed. "Wouldn't you think so, Alexandra? Alexandra?"

"Huh? Yeah, yeah," Alexandra said quickly. She had scarcely been paying attention to the conversation; the wheels in her mind were spinning. Now that she knew that Harry was relaying information to Order members via owl mail at the school, she had a certain way to get information to pass onto Claridina. And with little over two weeks remaining until her deadline, she was getting very anxious. If she could just get to those letters…

"Well, at least we have the morning off," Alanna said, finishing off the last of her kipper. "We were going to try and finish our Astronomy essay, right Alexandra?"

"Oh, um, actually," Alexandra said. "There-There's something I need to do first. Something important."

…..

"The old hag doesn't seem to be warming up to him as easily as I thought," Claridina sighed, sitting in her armchair near the fireplace of her office, staring into the flames.

"She will have to relay him _some _information eventually, My Lady," Eppilep said smoothly. "Considering his position."

"Yes, but it seems McGonagall will never fully trust him to the degree that she does some of the others," Claridina said. "But that's no matter. With the girl working for me, I will get insight into taking down Potter. And then, no matter what McGonagall believes, Hogwarts will fall."

"Yes, My Lady," Eppilep nodded. "But, forgive my questioning, shouldn't things be moving…faster by now? It's been nearly three weeks since term started and we've barely made a dent."

"Now, now, Max," Claridina said lightly. "You mustn't rush these things. In due time, I will have Hogwarts. Make no mistake about that."


	40. Chapter 40

**AN-I'm really sorry about the long waits for updates; I've just been really busy with college and what not. **

…

Alexandra was relieved to find that the Owlery was empty. She looked around at the hundreds of owls perches throughout the entire room. She saw Fred's tawny owl, and either James's or Albus's snowy owl.

But she was not there to send a letter.

"Avren," she whispered.

Almost instantly, the house elf appeared.

"Master's sister called?" the house elf said, bowing his head down low.

"Y-Yes," Alexandra said, trying not to shudder at the word 'sister'. "I need your help. With-with what we discussed in the forest the other day."

"Avren will help with whatever you is needing," the elf said. "His master is ordering him to do so."

"Er, yeah, I know," Alexandra nodded. She took a deep breath. "Would you be able to intercept some letters for me?"

"Of course Avren is able to be doing that," he replied.

"G-Good," Alexandra said. "They'd-They'd be letters from Harry. I think he's talking about Order things with some of the teachers here. There could be things in the letters that he'd tell only them; not even James or Albus."

Avren nodded.

"So you can do it then?" Alexandra asked.

"Avren has already said he would."

"And would they know?" Alexandra asked quickly. "Harry and the teachers he is writing to, would they know I've read the letters before them?"

"Of course they will not be knowing," the elf said.

"Okay," Alexandra said, trying to calm the nerves she felt throughout her whole body. "Okay then. When-when you get the letters, leave them for me on my bed, under my pillow, so none of the other girls will see them."

"As you is saying," Avren nodded, bowing again. And with a loud pop, he was gone, leaving Alexandra alone in the owlrey.

…

"How's James doing?" Hermione asked, pouring four cups of tea. "Rose wrote me that he still isn't allowed to leave the Hospital Wing."

"No," Ginny sighed. "Madam Pomfrey still wants to keep him a bit longer. Just to make sure that he's really recovered."

"Must've been some bludger," Ron said darkly, sipping his tea. He turned to Harry. "And Kreatcher thinks that another elf did it?"

"He told me that the bludger definitely had traces of elf magic on it," Harry replied. "Must've been the same spell that Dobby used when he did the same thing to me. Only Dobby did it to help me."

"You really think that an elf was trying to hurt James?" Hermione asked, clearly unsettled by this idea. "Harry, there's never been a case where an elf-"

"Give it a rest, Hermione," Ron said, rolling his eyes. "Not all elves are saints. There are bound to be a few bad apples out there."

"Yes," Hermione said hotly, crossing her arms. "Because of the hardships that they've been forced to suffer from wizards who-"

"Look, elves do what their masters tell them to do," Ginny said quickly.

"And who do you think would want to hurt any of my kids?" Harry added.

Ron's eyes widened. "Claridina? You're saying that she got an elf to do that?"

"But does she even _have _an elf?" Hermione said hesitantly.

"She could," Harry said. "She'd love having some creature around to bark orders, wouldn't she?"

"Yes, but house elves are passed down through wealthy families," Hermione pointed out. "Claridina wasn't wealthy, Harry."

"She's the most powerful witch in Europe at the moment, in case you've forgotten," Ron said.

"Yeah, and don't forget, she got left money by her uncle years ago," Harry added.

"Yes, but not so much as to where she'd have a house elf," Hermione said.

"Well then who then," Harry said, starting to feel irritated. "Do you think sent a house elf to curse a bludger to go after James?"

"Well," Hermione sighed. "It's always possible that Kreacher…made a mistake. It really could've just been an out of control bludger. Sometimes when the spells on them begin to wear off, they get a bit defective."

"I've played Quidditch for years, Hermione," Ginny said. "And that's _never _happened before."

"And aren't you always the one coming to Kreacher's defense?" Ron said.

"I'm just saying, we can't assume that Claridina's behind this," Hermione said. "Look, she's obviously very busy with whatever plan she's working on to try and get Hogwarts. What would she get out of seeing James hurt?"

"She's trying to get to Harry!" Ron exclaimed.

"Exactly!" Harry nodded.

"Yes, that could be it," Hermione said. "But…Harry, Claridina's got to have a lot going on. We know she's dedicating all of her efforts to get Hogwarts. I'm not saying she's not capable of doing something like that to James. In fact, under different circumstances, I'd say that she _did _do it. But it just seems like…well, she might be past playing around with you, Harry."

"What do you mean?" Ginny frowned. "We all know she's not going to stop trying to get to Harry."

"Yes, I know that," Hermione said.

"Well then what are you talking about here?" Ron asked.

"I think that Claridina's been more quiet than she has been for awhile now," Hermione said. "Because she's done just trying to hurt us, especially Harry. I think now," she took a deep breath. "Her main focus, besides getting Hogwarts, is to kill, and only kill."


	41. Chapter 41

"Exactly how many boxes of those things have you had?" Alanna frowned, sitting at the foot of James's hospital bed as she watched James open up yet another box of Berttie Botts Every Flavor Beans.

"Dunno," James shrugged.

"Toss some over here," Fred said.

"So," Alexandra said as James handed Fred the box. "You're finally getting out of here tomorrow?"

"Yeah, about bloody time, too," James nodded. "Real shame I can't go back to playing Quidditch right away, though. I can't believe I've been replaced."

"It's only temporary," Alanna reminded him.

"It better be," James said darkly. "Anyway, do you think Flitwick will give me an extension on my essay about Cheering Charms? I've only got about three inches, and I need fifteen."

"I thought you were assigned that essay last week?" Alanna frowned. "Don't tell me you haven't been doing any homework this whole time you've been in here."

"I've been on my deathbed, thank you very much," James snapped.

"Flitwick will give you an extension, don't worry," Fred told his cousin.

"What are you lot still doing here?" Madam Pomfrey asked, hurrying over to James's bedside. "It's well past visiting hours, you know!"

"We were just leaving," Alexandra said quickly.

"But I'm getting out tomorrow anyway," James moaned. "Can't they just stay for a bit longer?"

"If you plan on getting my approval to leave tomorrow, you'd better get a good night's rest tonight," Madam Pomfrey said firmly. "Pajamas. Now."

"Blimey, didn't realize how late it was," Fred said as the three left the Hospital Wing. "Anyone up for sneaking down to the kitchens to see if we can get some snacks."

"Do you think we can do it without getting caught though?" Alanna asked hesitantly. "We _do _have all of the extra security around the school now."

"That's for keeping people out," Fred said, rolling his eyes. "Not from keeping people from moving around _inside_. We've done that loads of times, haven't we?"

Alanna and Alexandra exchanged looks. Normally, they'd try and talk Fred out of sneaking around the castle at night, but dinner _had _been several hours ago, and the empty feelings in the pits of their stomach seemed to overpower any sense of reason.

"Well, okay," Alexandra sighed. "But let's be quick, okay? I think I saw the Bloody Barron floating around the second floor on our way up here…"

Making sure to be as quiet as possible, Alanna, Fred and Alexandra quickly walked down to the kitchen. After tickling the pear that permitted entrance, the three stepped through the portrait hole.

Even though it was quite late, there were still dozens of house elves scurrying around the kitchen. Several were scrubbing pots and pans, and others were preparing what looked to be tomorrow morning's breakfast.

"Er, hello," Fred said, bringing the elves attention to the fact that three students had just entered their kitchen.

"Hello, mister and misses!" squeaked one of the elves, putting down the dough he had been kneading. "What is it that we house elves can be doing for you?"

"We wondering if we could get some food," Fred replied.

"Please," Alanna added. "If you're not too busy."

"Of course we can be feeding you three!" the elf said happily as three more elves ran over almost instantly, carrying armloads of biscuits and cakes.

"Brilliant," Fred grinned, holding out his arms. "Thanks a lot."

While Fred and Alanna stuffed their bags with sweets, Alexandra allowed herself to look around the kitchen.

She wondered whether Avery would be here; she remembered Rolwat saying that Avery had other business to attend to in the castle, but surely all house elves found their way to the kitchen at some point. It had been almost a week since she had spoken to him about getting Harry's letters. She wondered if any progress had been made.

"Excuse me," she whispered to a small passing elf, lowering her voice so Alanna and Fred could not hear her. "Do you know an elf named Avery?"

"Oh yes, I is," the elf nodded.

"Okay, do you know where he is?" Alexandra asked.

"No, I is sorry," the elf replied. "But Kreatcher is going to look for him nearly an hour ago."

"K-Kreatcher?" Alexandra frowned. "Harry Potter's elf?"

"Yes," the elf nodded. "He is telling me that he wanted to talk to Avery about something. I is thinking he is wanting to tell him off for not cleaning the Ravenclaw common room properly. He is leaving sweet wrappers and other rubbish left all over the place! Tis not a mark of a good house elf to leave messes!"

"Er, no, I suppose not," Alexandra said. "Thank you."

"Here, stuff the rest of these in your bag," Fred said, dumping a pile of biscuits into Alexandra's arms.

As Fred and Alanna said their thanks to the elves, Alexandra followed them out of the kitchen.

Why would Kreatcher be looking for Avery? Did Avery know Kreatcher was looking for him?

It could be simply for the reason that the house elf had told her, back in the kitchen. Yet she somehow doubted it.

….

"A small village, just a few miles from where Claridina's hideout it," Ron said, apperating back into Grimmauld Place. "Has just had a huge fire."

"What?" Harry frowned.

"Just heard about it during my guard duty," Ron told him, shrugging off his cloak. "Village is destroyed. Heard it from a muggle who was passing just outside of where the protective charms start. Thing is, though. None of them know how it starts. Those blokes who go around putting out the fires…what do you call them?"

"Firemen?" Harry said.

"Yeah, yeah, them," Ron nodded. "They apparently said that the fire didn't start from any gas leak, or any sort of electrical thing. They're completely baffled."

"It had to be Claridina," Harry said. "Fire's her trademark…only why would she burn down a muggle village? If what Hermione was saying the other night is true, that Claridina's focused only on getting Hogwarts and killing me, why would she waste her time with that, if not just for her own sick enjoyment?"

"Don't know," Ron sighed. "But, well, there is something else I managed to hear the muggle say."

"What?" Harry asked.

"Apparently, a couple of hours before the fire," Ron said. "An odd bloke came into this muggle's…I think he said _pharmacy_. Don't know what that is..."

"It's almost like an apothecary," Harry said quickly. "What happened in the pharmacy?"

"Said that the bloke put in a strange order for some sort of herb that only grows in that village," Ron said. "But he said the bloke wanted the entire supply. Well, when the muggle told him that he couldn't have the whole supply, the bloke went all funny…got sort of mad and stormed out of the storm."

"You don't think that bloke was a follower of Claridina, do you?" Harry asked slowly.

"I don't know why her follower would go into a farmcy to get those herbs," Ron said. "If they really needed them that badly, couldn't they just summon them?"

"Yes," Harry nodded. "But this is Claridina we're dealing with. Who knows what was going on in her head during all of this…"


	42. Chapter 42

"From the few roots that somehow survived that fire," Neville said as him and Hermione apperated into the kitchen of Grimmauld Place. "The plant that Claridina's follower must've been trying to get his hands on was Mortantium."

"Sorry, what?" Ron frowned.

"I've never heard of that," Harry said.

"Me neither," Ginny nodded.

"Not many people have," Neville said, pulling off his traveling cloak. "It's a very rare plant. I'd suspect that the field in the muggle village is one of the last few places in the world where the plant still grows."

"But what does it do?" Teddy asked.

"Well, its uses aren't really known all to much," Neville admitted. "But the most common is its use in-"

"-The Death Blood potion," came a voice from the entrance of the kitchen. Neville and the others turned around and saw Victorie standing against the doorframe.

"Sorry," she said softly. "I couldn't help but hearing you as I was walking by. I've read about the Death Blood potion, since the only thing I seem to be qualified to do around here is read. The potion is supposed to turn the blood of whoever drinks it into pure poison, causing a slow, agonizing death. It's considered to be the cruelest, most inhumane method of death around. It was horrible just to read about."

"Yes, I think I remember skimming something about that," Hermione said thoughtfully. "But it was years ago, in _Moste Potente Potions_. Remember, that book we used in our second year to make the Polyjuice Potion. I think it was a few chapters after it, if I remember correctly…I didn't read to much into it, of course, since I was more concerned about making the Polyjuice potion, but I do think I remember reading something very quickly about how the effects of the potion were considered to be far worse than those of the Cruciatius Curse."

"You remember something you _skimmed over_ in a book when you were in the second year?" Ron frowned in disbelief. "I can barely remember what I read in the _Prophet _this morning."

"Yeah, Hermione, that's bloody amazing," Harry agreed.

"Yes, well," Hermione said modestly. She turned back to Victoire. "Victorie, did you read anything else about the potion."

"No, there wasn't anything else," Victoire said. "I suppose that's because like Neville said, it's a very rare plant, so the potion itself is very rare. I'll go look through some more of my potions books, though, and see if I can find anything else, though."

She turned on her heel and walked out of the kitchen, but not before giving Teddy, who had suddenly become very interested in the cup of tea he had been holding the second his ex-girlfriend had entered the room, a cold look.

"Right then," Harry said. "That's just brilliant. If Claridina's got a supply of that plant, there's no telling what she'll do once she brews that Death Blood potion, which I'm willing to bet is the only reason she wanted the plant in the first place."

"There are ways to completely counteract any effects that the plant could have in a potion, though," Neville said.

"What do you mean?" Ginny asked.

"Most plants used in potion making have known counterparts that act as sort of an antidote to them," Neville explained. "And for this plant, it just so happens that the counterpart is Gillyweed."

"Gillyweed?" Ron repeated. "That bloody plant that makes you grow gills?"

"Yes," Neville nodded. "Since it's water-based, it counteracts the poison in the Mortantium. If we are able to get into Claridina's hideout, once we bring down all the protections around it, the first thing we should do is make sure to get Gillyweed into the potions, if she's brewing them there. Luckily, Hogwarts has a good supply of Gillyweed we can use."

"What would she even be doing with that potion though?" Ron asked. "Don't get me wrong, a potion that turns your blood to poison…that's right up her ally, but for it to work, she'd have to have the person actually drink it, and I don't think anybody that would be worth her killing would be stupid enough to drink anything she gives them."

"Either way," Harry said. "It would be better for her not to have that potion at her disposal." He turned to Neville. "Are you going back to the school?"

"Not until later this evening," Neville replied. "I need to go look in on gran for a bit."

"Well then I'll send word to McGonagall now," Harry said. "I promised her I'd keep her informed on everything going on."

"Be careful of what you put into the letter, Harry," Hermione warned.

"Why?" Ron scoffed. "Claridina _doesn't _control Hogwarts, remember? That's why she's so determined to get it."

"Yes, but remember, she _does _have a spy there," Hermione reminded him.

"Don't worry," Harry assured her. "Mail addressed to McGonagall goes directly to her; it doesn't have a chance to be read by anyone but her."

…..

"You wiped out the entire muggle village, Max," Claridina said as Eppilep handed her a large bag filled with the Mortantium. "That wasn't wise of you."

"The muggles had it coming," Eppilep said darkly. "They refused to cooperate with me. But I got what we needed in the end."

"Yes, you did," Claridina nodded. "And I suppose a bit of fun _was_ well earned for you, so you are forgiven."

She opened the bag. "Yes…this is exactly what we needed. Our supply was beginning to run low, and the last thing we need is to have to cut the plan short because we can no longer brew the potion properly."

"My Lady, I must ask," Eppilep said. "Your son…he knows of this plan, I know. But-But he _has _been instructed not to tell…_her_, has he not? She may be your flesh and blood, but I am still not sure where her allegiance lies."

"Rolwat has been instructed to tell her only bits and pieces," Claridina replied calmly. "Don't worry. Until I am confident that Alexandra's devotion truly and unwaveringly belongs with us, she will never know the full plan."


	43. Chapter 43

"-And then we have the new additions to the Magical Security Act of 1805," Professor Binns droned on. "That specifically addressed the new wand types of the age. These changes made it possible-"

"I can't believe we have to sit through a double period of this class," Fred sighed, doodling on the edges of his parchment.

"How much time has passed?" Alexandra whispered.

Fred looked at his watch. "About twelve minutes."

Alexandra let out a low groan and rested her head on her hand as she watched Professor Binns continue to lecture. She looked over at Alanna, who was hurriedly taking notes. She knew she should be doing so as well, but her mind was on anything but History of Magic at the moment. She could be doing so much more if she wasn't stuck sitting in this class. She could be figuring out what she was going to do about Claridina, for one. Her time was nearly up, and she still had nothing to offer her. She wondered whether she could simply sneak out of the classroom….she doubted Professor Binns would even notice. Of course that would raise a few questions from Fred and Alanna, though.

Suddenly, there was a loud pecking noise at the window by the platform where Professor Binns was lecturing. He stopped abruptly, in the middle of his sentence about the repercussions of the Security Act. Clearly he was not used to interruptions during his lecture.

"Er, well, it seems as if I've received a message," Professor Binns said. "Mr. Longhorn, if you'd please let him in…"

A Ravenclaw boy in the first row jumped up and opened up the window, and one of the school's tawny brown owls flew in and dropped a not on Binns's podium before flying right out of the window again.

"Yes, let's see," Professor Binns murmured to himself, looking at the note. "Is there a Ms. Doosley here?"

"Er, yes, that's me," Alexandra said, raising her hand. "It's Dursley."

"Yes, you're needed in the Headmistress's office immediately," Binns said. "Gather your stuff and be on your way then. Now, back to what I was saying, the Ministry at the time did not plan on-"

"Lucky," Fred frowned, watching enviously as Alexandra packed her bag up.

Alexandra exited the classroom. She was about to turn to corner to start the path towards McGonagall's office, but she suddenly felt her legs clench together, and she fell tumbling down onto the hard floor.

"Ow!" Alexandra moaned, grimacing at the pain the was now searing through her body. "What in the world-"

"Avery was told to tell you when he has made progress," the house elf said, walking over to Alexandra.

"What?" Alexandra frowned, her body still aching. "What do you-Wait, have you got letters from Harry?"

Avery gave a slow nod.

"Well…brilliant," Alexandra said. "I don't see why you had to trip me like that, but can I see the letters then?"

"Follow Avery," the elf said. "Master had given instructions to do everything behind closed doors."

Picking herself up off the ground, Alexandra hurried after Avery.

"So you sent Binns the letter getting me out of class, I assume?" Alexandra asked.

"Yes." He stopped outside a small broom cupboard and opened the door and motioned for Alexandra to come in after him.

"So where are these letters?" Alexandra asked. "Are they to James and Albus? What do they say? Will Calridina be-"

"Avery has not read them," Avery cut her off. "Avery's instructions were only to get the letters."

"Right, right, sorry," Alexandra said quickly.

Avery reached into the pillowcase gown he was wearing and pulled out a single envelope. Alexandra saw that it was addressed to Professor McGonagall. She eagerly tore it open.

_Professor, _

_The Order has just learned that there is a very good chance that muggle village near Claridina's hideout was burned down in order to obtain Mortantium. We believe that she is going to use this plant to brew batches of the Death Blood potion. Neville tells us that this potion's affects can be countered with the use of Gillyweed, which he has a large supply of in the greenhouses at the school. It's crucial that the supply be kept safe, in case the time comes where we must use it. Security measures must be put in place around the greenhouses. Neville is willing to do all his teaching out of greenhouse two for the remaninder of the year, so with your approval, we'd like to have all the Gillyweed hidden in greenhouse one. _

_-Harry_

"Claridina's hideout?" Alexandra frowned, re-reading the letter. "Harry-Harry knows where she's hiding, by the sound of this. _And _that she's planning on making that, what was it called again? Death Blood potion!"

She could use this information. Alexandra knew that Claridina would have no problem coming up with a way to manipulate the Order once she found out they knew where her hideout was.

"Avery, can you find a way for me to talk to Claridina tonight? I can't write to her; owls are still being watched," Alexandra said. "Oh, and seal this letter back up for McGonagall to read herself."

"Avery will arrange a conversation between you and his Mistress," Avery said, bowing low.

"Thank you," Alexandra said. She felt as though a weight had been lifted from her shoulders. She had gotten the information. Her end of the Unbreakable Vow was upheld. As she stood in that broom cupboard, though, watching Avery shuffle slowly out, she felt that relief turn into another feeling. Pride. And though it was short lived, perhaps lasting for a second or two, it was no denying the pleasure it sent through Alexandra's veins, and the fear it provoked right after.


	44. Chapter 44

"He knows where the hideout is?"

"I-I think so, according to his letter," Alexandra nodded, looking down at the fireplace, where the shape of her mother's face was sitting amongst the firewood in the Room of Requirements fireplace.

"And he knows that Gillyweed will render the Morantim useless?" Claridina frowned.

"Yes," Alexandra said. "He thinks that you're making some Death Blood potion."

For the first time during their conversation, Claridina smiled. "Does he?"

"Are-Are you not?" Alexandra asked, confused.

"Never you mind," Claridina said quickly. "What else did the letter say?"

"Nothing much," Alexandra said. "Just that the Order is going to be putting protections around the school's supply of Gillyweed."

"I see…" Claridina said slowly. "Yes, I see…"

"I haven't broken my vow then," Alexandra said. "I told you what you wanted to know."

"Yes you have, my daughter," Claridina said, her voice sending shivers up Alexandra's spine. "Very good, very good. I will be in contact with you soon, my dear."

And with that, Claridina had vanished. Alexandra got to her feet, still trembling, as she always did after talking to her mother.

….

"I've got news," Hermione said, apperating into the Potter's house.

"I don't know why I'm going to bother asking, but good or bad?" Ginny asked, looking up from the pot of stew she was stirring on the stove.

"I think that Claridina is trying to make an alliance with the muggle Prime Minister," Hermione sighed.

"What?" Harry exclaimed. "Why would she want to make any sort of agreement with a muggle?"

"We've been over this, Harry," Hermione said. "As Dark as Claridina may be, she is not Voldemort. She may not welcome muggles and muggle-borns in with open arms, but they're not the only ones in her line of fire. If she thinks that having a relationship with a muggle can help her, she wouldn't pass that up."

"But how would being in cahoots with the muggle Prime Minister help her?" Ginny asked.

"She'd be able to have him cover up her activity," Hermione suggested. "Meaning she could do anything she wanted and not have to worry about the muggle population finding about her. Though I think soon she won't even care about the Statue of Secrecy; if she keeps up, she'll be out in the open among the muggles as well."

"But what if we can persuade the muggle minister to come over to our side?" Ginny asked. "That may at least slow her down a bit."

"She'll probably have him bewitched," Harry said. "That's got to be the reason he's with her in the first place. And I'll bet she's got a group of her followers surrounding him around the clock now."

"That's what it looks like," Hermione sighed. She turned to Harry. "We've got to get into her hideout. As quickly as possible."

"But I thought you said that your defensive spells would take longer to work through her protections," Harry said. He thought back to the glitch that he had found and still hadn't told anyone about…

"We've got to find a way," Hermione said. "I'll start looking, and maybe if I go through enough books, then I can find something."

"I'll help you," Ginny said at once. "And we'll have other members of the Order look too."

"Don't bother," Harry said.

Hermione and Ginny frowned at him.

"Don't bother?" Hermione repeated. "Harry, we've got to, or else-"

"I mean don't bother because I've already found a section of her protection that's down," Harry said heavily.

Ginny stared at him, agape, and Harry stared, determined, away from her gaze.

"You-You've already found a way to get into her hideout then?" Hermione said softly. "W-When?"

"About a month ago," Harry replied, still feeling his wife's hard stare. "It's not a big enough glitch to get into the hideout, but I've-I've been working on getting through while I've had guard duty. I can show you; you-you'll probably be able to make far more progress than I've managed."

"And why, may I ask," Ginny finally spoke up, her voice level, but anger still very evident in it. "Did you not think to share this information with anybody _else_?"

"Because I-I knew that you'd all obviously want to storm the hideout!" Harry said. "And then who knows what would happen?"

"What would happen?" Ginny snapped. "We're in the Order, Harry! We _know _bloody well what could happen! You're doing this damn hero thing again! You can't protect everyone, Harry! You want to sacrifice yourself in everyway, and leave the rest of us sitting, "safe and sound"! You did the same thing when you were seventeen, and you're doing it again!"

Hermione backed away from the couple, very uncomfortable in the situation.

"I'm not just trying to keep everyone "safe and sound"!" Harry retorted.

"Yes you are!" Ginny cried, exasperated. "And you know what? Do you even stop and think that it's not just you who worries about all of us? _We_ worry about _you_! Especially me! What if you had gone off into her hideout and Claridina got to you and you wound up dead? What do you think would happen to me then? Or the kids? Or the other dozens of members in the Order who care about you? You think you're being the martyr, but you're really just being _selfish_!"

Harry stared at her, her face red and her fists shaking.

"You'd better go with Hermione, show her the spot where the protection's down," Ginny said, her voice now dangerously quiet.

"Ginny, I-" Harry started, but she had already turned and was heading upstairs. He looked over at Hermione, who gave him a sympathetic look, though Harry knew very well she was most likely on her side in this.

Without a word, Harry followed Hermione to the fireplace.


End file.
